Melnorme

The Melnorme (pronounced /'mɛlnɔːmeɪ/?)1, as far as we know, are a race of traveling traders in information and technology. They appear as several orange globs piled on top of each other, with a large smile and a single eye.

Biology
Melnorme are highly sensitive to a broad spectrum of colors; their single eye, while incapable of perceiving depth, contains numerous wavelength-sensitive cone cells.

The bridge of their Trader ship has a colorful background that changes to fit their mood or activities. Red is for travel, purple is generally assumed to be for trade (if one pays enough credits the Melnorme offer to sell the information about it turning purple). A blue bridge signifies a response to an unexpected threat and emotional distress, and also has the effect of permitting the Melnorme Trade Master to see the weapon consoles more clearly.

The Melnorme possess a large amount of knowledge and unique technology, including a device called the MetaChron that can predict its own destruction. They also claim that they can predict The Captain's arrival using the vibrations of Tzo crystals.

Ancestors
The similarity in name between "Melnorme" and "Mael-Num", combined with the fact that the Mael-Num are described as one-eyed creatures by the Kohr-Ah, may lead to the suspicion that there is a connection between the two races. This suspicion has been confirmed by reliable sources. Presumably, the Melnorme would be willing to sell this information along with their full history, psychology, mental powers, their unique physiology, the exact location of homeworlds, and their "potentially ominous" long-term plans.

Trade
The Melnorme are never found in HyperSpace, unless The Captain calls them or they come offering to rescue him if he runs out of fuel. A Melnorme Trader is present at every supergiant star system, like Alpha Centauri or Zeeman, although The Flagship may have to investigate the individual planets to make contact.

The Melnorme culture revolves around exchanges of items, information, and commodities. They believe that giving without receiving is barbaric. While their culture abandoned currency long ago, the Melnorme economy is based entirely on the exchange of items of "intrinsic value", quantified via Interstar Credits. The Melnorme are particularly interested in obtaining new information about alien life-forms and the strange Precursor Rainbow Worlds, without specifying how they use the data, though it is probably safe to assume that they simply sell it to someone else. They claim that they have "a thousand secret sources in space and time" and that their charge for revealing even one of them would indebt the whole Human species for centuries.

Trading with the Melnorme in Star Control II

For Sale


 * 1 unit of Fuel per 1 Interstar Credit
 * 1 information report for 75 Credits
 * 1 technology upgrade for 150 Credits

Will Purchase


 * 1 unit of Biological Data for 2 Credits
 * 1 Rainbow World location for 500 Credits

Other Melnorme Items Known to the Alliance


 * Catalog item 2418-B: sold to the Slylandro for data on the lifeforms on Source
 * The FunRom "Winky's Happy Night": in the possession of the Spathi

Interstellar Relations
The first Melnorme to make contact with The Captain is known as Trade Master Greenish, captain of the Trader vessel Inevitably Successful In All Circumstances. From this first encounter, an important relationship is developed from which the New Alliance gains key technological upgrades and vital intelligence for its guerrilla war.

The Slylandro purchased their notorious Probe from the Melnorme, but tweaked the settings and turned it into the scourge of the galaxy.

The Melnorme have an aversion for the Druuge, seeing their prices as "unreasonably low", although they do not mention anything about Druuge slave trading or piracy beyond alluding to "hidden costs" and "secret tariffs". The Druuge likewise detest the Melnorme, arguing instead that their prices are too high, that they "charge fees for common knowledge" and that their rescue service is piracy.