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 sentient species in the galaxy (the other being human), although artifacts 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

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 

It is not known what role they will take in Elite: Dangerous in their final incarnation, initially though they will be limited to encounters , but we can be sure they will be there

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 billions of light years.