Thargoid

The Thargoids are an insectoid alien race who are said to originate outside of known space, perhaps existing in a parallel universe or spacial dimension.  Thargoids are the one of two known sapient species in the galaxy (the other being human), although artefacts of other races have been found. Of course a lot of the galaxy remains unexplored so there may be races not yet discovered, but we should expect them to be quite rare.

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A Thargoid ship in Frontier: First Encounters

They are very hostile and aggressive and have not been interested in diplomatic relations to date. It has been rumoured that Thargoids could be capable of building large artificial structures which could possibly be on a scale with planets, and certainly large enough to negate a ship's warp ability.

Certain events in Frontier: First Encounters have indicated that there may be another side to Thargoids; in prior conflicts, they have shown some anomalous behavior that does not entirely match with their popular image as relentless killing machines. At some point, a Commander Jameson may or may not have interacted with them, and may or may not have chosen to provide them with the vaccine to a genetically-engineered fungus ("hyper-mycoid") that attacked critical materials in their hyperdrives, preventing the construction of interstellar vehicles. If not, and if they appear in Dangerous regardless, then it can be assumed they developed a countermeasure on their own.

Frontier Development staff have previously commented that all Thargoids are female. David Braben hinted that should peace have ever been found with Thargoids, it would be a temporary measure.

Elite Dangerous

Initially, it was only confirmed that Thargoids would eventually make an appearance in Elite Dangerous, and the specifics of that encounter were unknown. On January 5, 3303, Commander DP Sayre reported the first known encounter with an Unknown Ship, which is possibly a type of Thargoid vessel.

Society

Not much information has been obtained about Thargoid society or culture. The only known fact is that the society is hive based, with no sense of close family. It is thought that the society is divided into colonies, possibly along the lines of ant colonies.

Thargoids are thought to have a natural affinity with space, and with witchspace in particular. This is due to the fact that Thargoid warriors seem to spend a large amount of time in space. Naval pilots and crews report that the warships in the war zones are encountered on repeated occasions over a period of months often without respite.

Based on the study of some wrecked ships, Thargoids as a race seem to have a very spartan approach to furnishing and belongings. Crew quarters are practically devoid of possessions other than those necessary for military crew. All belongings are functional and necessary.

Politics

Nothing is known about internal Thargoid politics.

Thargoid relations with other races is frighteningly simple: war. The three largest organisations in Galaxy 1 are all at war with the Thargoid race, and they are constantly under threat of planetary invasion.

The Thargoid invasions usually seem to be prompted by the need for either agricultural or mineral resources, rather than a sociological or anthropological need to expand or colonise. In fact, the animal life on an invaded world is largely ignored unless it poses a threat to Thargoids.

Technology

Thargoid technology is vastly different and in many ways far superior to established GalCop technology. The warships have no visible form of propulsion, neither from vented emissions nor engine exhausts, yet they are manoeuvrable and agile.

The Thargoids are also superior in the use of advanced AI and remote craft, an area in which GalCop is sadly behind.

Other fields of technology that the Thargoids are in advance of GalCop, include metallurgy, biogenetics, physics and weapons tech. Their hyperdrives and shield technologies are also superior.

Origins of name

The name 'Thargoid' is believed to have come from the regular skit 'Captain Kremmen' performed by radio and TV personality Kenny Everett on both his radio shows and, in animated form, on TV.

The animated skits show the Thargoids as a race of tall, transparent creatures who are part of a highly-wealthy monarchical society. It is assumed that their main source of income is profiting from the sale of natural resources taken from planets they have colonised stretching thousands of light years.

A tourist POI in Lave states that the word "THARG" appeared in a blurred image of an encounter and the name stuck, extended to 'Thargoid' by most commentaries.

Lore

The Thargoids need little introduction to those well versed in Elite lore, but not all players of Elite: Dangerous may be au fait with their complete background. Drew Wagar has summarised information on the Thargoids and set it in context within the known game Lore (Elite, FE2, FFE and ED). There is a lot of fan produced content on the Thargoids, and Wagar has deliberately not referred to it here. What is below is, as far as Wagar's aware, established canon.

Summary

2850 – Unconfirmed suggestions that some kind of covert war was started with Thargoids, ostensibly by a trigger-happy Fleet Commander. 3125 – Thargoids alleged to be ‘ripping’ ships out of witchspace and destroying them. Thargoid ‘warzones’ widespread 3200 – Thargoids reportedly retreat from human occupied space for reasons unknown 3255 – Reason for Thargoid retreat was reported to be down to human-engineered ‘Mycoid’ virus which impacted their hyperdrive capability 3302 – Reports of curious wrecks of unknown vessels. 3303 – 8 sided alien ships rip CMDRs out of witchspace (hyperspace high wake)

First Appearance, the year is 3125.

In the original game of 1984 the Thargoids appeared to be the classic villains of the piece, the indefatigable evil of the spaceways, plucking ships out of witchspace and despatching them far from the safe zones of human habitation. The year is 3125. The Thargoids make their first appearance in the original game manual, and are referenced as “Thargoid Invaders”. Later on we are informed that their “Captains have had their fear glands removed.” and are thus fearsome combateers.

An encounter in the original game was fast and brutal. You were lucky if you survived the experience. Thargoids ships were fast, heavily armed and deployed remote controlled ‘Thargons’ to supplement their fire power.

There were, reportedly, 50 war zones between humanity and this “insectoid” race. They were also believed to be able to “hover” in witch-space, ambushing human spacecraft whilst using their hyperdrives to travel between systems. It was speculated that they existed as a “group mind”. Thargoid spacecraft were large, swift and powerful with multi-axis symmetry. They had no obvious drive outlets as still required on human vessels, leading to speculation that Thargoids had mastered inertialess drive technology, otherwise known as the ‘spacedrive’. It appears that Thargoid technology was significantly more advanced than ours. In-game, Thargoids tended to ambush human players during hyperspace transits, pulling them out of witch-space and attempting to destroy you with no preamble. They attacked on sight. Throughout the original game it was claimed we were “at war” with the Thargoids. Incidentally, it is alleged that ECM technology was reverse engineered from captured Thargoid ships and many other technologies may have also been Thargoid derived.

There was also another race mentioned in “The Dark Wheel”, known as the Oresrians. These were portrayed as a peaceful offset of the Thargoids, but very similar in overall appearance, albeit with a warning to Commanders to “Check the thorax markings and the shape of the fourth joint on each hind leg before jumping to conclusions.”

75 years later. The year is 3200.

Curiously, by the time of the second installment of Elite (Frontier: Elite 2) the Thargoids appear to have retreated from human space almost completely. The only reported sightings of vessels within this timeframe were captured Thargoid vessels held at secret research bases across the galaxy. Other than these tantalising hints, it appeared that the Thargoids were gone. There was no record of them. They retreated from the war, they stopped ambushing ships. They had abandoned this area of the galaxy completely. We had no idea where they came from, what they wanted, where they had gone, or what they even looked like. They remained a complete mystery.

Another 50 years passes. The year is 3250.

Nothing new was heard of the Thargoids until the launch of the next game in the series, Frontier: First Encounters (FFE). Records indicate that the disappearance of the Thargoids might have been down to a covert operation undertaken by the Intergalactic Naval Reserve Arm (INRA). They had been infected by a virus and a particular type of virus at that. It was known as the ‘Mycoid’ virus, and it was produced by humans. The Thargoid hyperdrive technology was rendered useless (the virus attacked plastic polymers in the system) and there are indications that the Thargoids were also impacted, as their exoskeletons were composed of polymer like material. There were accusations that INRA committed genocide on the Thargoids. Regardless, the Thargoids disappeared. The report was dismissed as a conspiracy theory by leading political leaders.

53 Years later. The year is 3303.

Whilst alien wreckage had been spotted in various locations within Elite Dangerous, it wasn’t until January 5th that an encounter with an ‘live’ alien vessel occurred. Whilst it hasn’t yet been definitively confirmed that these new vessels are ‘Thargoids’, their similarity in behaviour, form and function to the old stories cannot be denied. Until otherwise refuted we can assume these ships are indeed ‘Thargoids’ of some type. Are they the traditional warlike Thargoids, the Oresrians, the Klaxians… or something else?

The alien vessel was able to interdict a human vessel directly out of witchspace (hyperspace high wake) and disable it. The alien vessel directed a beam of energy at the beleaguered human ship which appeared to move it backwards and possibly scan it. The alien vessel then departed, employing an unknown form of hyperspace technology, rotating rapidly as it did so.

What we know

• Thargoids are insectoid and if it is true that they come from ammonia-based planets, their physiology is dramatically different from humans. For example, ammonia boils at -33 degrees C. Thargoids may well be acclimatised to temperatures far lower than humans.
• Thargoids have demonstrated some kind of instantaneous long distance jump technology, which may allow them to move rapidly across the galaxy, across otherwise impassible rifts in space, or perhaps even between galaxies.
• Thargoids can interdict vessels in Witchspace (hyperspace high-wake) and disable them at will
• Thargoids are universally female.
• Thargoids have been in space for ‘Millennia’.
• The so called ‘war’ was likely a ‘skirmish’ from the Thargoid’s perspective. Thargoids are divided into more than one group. We know of the Oresians and the Klaxians.
• T. James official book “Out of the Darkness” gives the following brief (and only known canon) description of the Thargoids: “Low calibre weapons do no damage to Thargoids, even at point blank range. They have six ‘legs’ and two ‘arms’ and are strong enough to dismember a human with only their claws.”
• Whilst their true technological capabilities are unknown, it is safe to say they are more advanced than humanity.