Orz
The Orz appeared as yellow parrotfish-like creatures in Star Control II.
Ship	Nemesis
Homeworld	Another dimension
Contacts	Humans, Arilou, Androsynth
Quotes	"Here is *bright* and *smooth*. Other place is **Frumple**."

The Orz are a fictional race of beings featured in the sci-fi Star Control computer game series. Image File history File links Screenshot, taken by me, from the open-source game, The Ur-Quan Masters This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ... Yellow is a color with a wavelength 565-590 nanometers. ... Genera Bolbometopon Calotomus Cetoscarus Chlorurus Cryptotomus Hipposcarus Leptoscarus Nicholsina Scarus Sparisoma Parrotfish are mostly tropical, perciform marine fish of the family Scaridae. ... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu(extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Homo (genus). ... Spoiler warning: Arilou (short for Ariloulaleelay) are a fictional race of beings featured in the sci-fi Star Control computer game series who belong to the Alliance of Free Stars. ... The Androsynth are a fictional race of beings featured in the sci-fi Star Control computer game series. ... Sci-fi is an abbreviation for science fiction. ... The Star Control series is a trilogy of computer games with a cult following. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ...

Physiology

The Orz are actually manifestations of a single pan-dimensional being, using "*fingers*" to produce the fish-like beings seen on a viewscreen. These manifestations are green and roughly spherical, with a stub too small to be a tail, two eyes on stalks, a large set of gills, four tentacles and a beak. Their ships are filled with fluid, and they appear to be somewhat similar to parrotfish. In aquatic organisms, gills are a respiratory organ for the extraction of oxygen from water and for the excretion of carbon dioxide. ... The beak - otherwise known as the bill - is the only device a bird has for consuming food. ... Genera Bolbometopon Calotomus Cetoscarus Chlorurus Cryptotomus Hipposcarus Leptoscarus Nicholsina Scarus Sparisoma Parrotfish are mostly tropical, perciform marine fish of the family Scaridae. ...

Language

The Orz language is excessively unorthodox and the translation computers used in the game are not particularly good at deciphering it, having to resort to best-fits denoted by asterisks a good deal of the time. However, the language is internally consistent and with effort from the player at least some degree of understanding can be gained.

There appear to be a few terms in the Orz-language with non-obvious contexts which the player will however understand quickly.

• Happy camper or just camper is a friend or an ally, someone the Orz trust/like.
• Sad Animal is someone the Orz do not like (i.e. the Androsynth)
• Dancing means ship-to-ship combat.
• Party is believed to mean an alliance as the Orz are apparently happy to help with parties.
• Fingers appear to be the term for the single Orz-entities that the player sees, but the Orz assure that they are "just *fingers*" leading to the suspicions that the Orz may be an representation of a single being rather than a species.
• Frumple, the exact meaning is not clear but appears to mean to get angry, as Orz's *frumple* just before they attack.

Combat

In combat, the Orz use a vaguely manta-like craft design called the Nemesis that's armed with a rotating turret and can launch armored space marines. It is highly regarded by the Starbase Commander in Star Control II. Binomial name Manta birostris Dondorff, 1798 The manta ray, or giant manta, is the largest of the rays, ranging up to 6. ...

Discussing the Androsynth with the Orz often leads to combat, or "*dancing*" as the Orz refer to it. The Androsynth are a fictional race of beings featured in the sci-fi Star Control computer game series. ...

Because of its wide range of combat abilities there are many schools of thought on how to properly use an Orz Nemesis in combat. Against small ships, the Nemesis can simply launch more marines than the enemy has crew and wait for the marines to do their jobs. Against larger ships, it is not unknown for an Orz captain to orient his turret directly behind and try to entice the enemy ship to chase them.

The main questions an Orz commander should ask himself are: 1. Can the opponent shoot down my marines before they get to him? 2. Does the enemy's gun have a greater range than mine? 3. Is the enemy ship faster than mine?

The answers to these questions will determine in large part the tactics used. As an aside, the ease with which an Androsyn Blazer catches up with and smashes through a Nemesis leads one to believe that the Androsyn were eliminated by means other than ship to ship combat.

History

In Star Control II, the Orz seemed to have displaced the Androsynth, who were apparently conducting experiments with other dimensions. This made them visible to the Orz. As a result, the Androsynth disappeared, leaving only their cities behind in ruins. The Orz are very sensitive about the Androsynth, and will fight when pressured to tell about their fate. According to the Arilou, even knowing too much about other dimensions makes one vulnerable to extra-dimensional dangers, such as the Orz, and the Arilou suggest that this is what happened to the Androsynth. Spoiler warning: Arilou (short for Ariloulaleelay) are a fictional race of beings featured in the sci-fi Star Control computer game series who belong to the Alliance of Free Stars. ...

The relationship between the Orz and the Arilou is never fully explained, although the Orz often expressed anger at the Arilou for "*jumping in front*". The Orz are from a "*below*" dimension disparate from the "*above*" dimension, QuasiSpace, where the Arilou live.

Althought not much accepted by Star Control fans (wich was alleged as krypto-revisionism), Star Control 3 provided many answers and additional data. In particular, the Orz were revealed to be the thralls of the Eternal Ones, a god-like powerfull extra-dimentional race. Krypto-revisionism is a concept created and named by writers Steven Grant and Mark Evanier, and describes the rejection by the audience of a storyline, concept, plot, or idea in an ongoing series. ...