Dnyarri

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Dnyarri
Ship	None
Homeworld	Glilandy
Contacts	Humans, Mael-Num, Ur-Quan, Arilou, Umgah
Quote(s)	Captain, I don't think you meant to ask about my powers. <DIDN'T YOU MEAN TO ASK ABOUT FLOWERS?>

The Dnyarri are a fictional race of aliens from the Star Control series of PC games. Resembling a cross between a toad and a mushroom, their most notable characteristic is their extraordinary telepathic prowess, which can allow a single Dnyarri to control an entire planet. The Dnyarri strongly resemble the Slavers of Larry Niven's Known Space series.

They were the enslavers of the Sentient Milieu, an association of alien races that arose in the distant past. Notable among the members of the Milieu was the Ur-Quan, who were unusually susceptible to Dnyarri telepathic manipulation, and who were for that reason favored slaves of the Dnyarri. It was the Ur-Quan that, under Dnyarri compulsion, destroyed the only race within the Sentient Milieu immune to Dnyarri control, the rock-like Taalo. The Dnyarri were eventually defeated when an Ur-Quan scientist, Kzer-Za, discovered that inflicting excruciating, near-lethal pain on oneself could temporarily disrupt the Dnyarri's psychic control, giving an Ur-Quan precious moments of mental freedom to kill the nearest Dnyarri. The Ur-Quan eventually subjugated the Dnyarri, and, deeming extinction an insufficient punishment, genetically stripped the Dnyarri of sentience and used them in the most demeaning capacity the xenophobic Ur-Quan could conceive: translator. These genetically modified, non-sentient Dnyarri are known as Talking Pets.

Information acquired from several independent sources portrays the ancient Dnyarri as evil beyond comprehension. According the Kohr-Ah, simply feeling that the Yulli and Drall, two races of the Sentient Milieu, were inferior was enough an excuse for the Dnyarri to order the complete genocide of both races. Accounts from both Ur-Quan races reveals that the original Ur-Quan were brown and that the Kohr-Ah and Kzer-Za were artificially created through genetic manipulation. Such reckless dismissal of both the value of life and the dignity of living beings does stand to show the Dnyarri were capable of great evil. In addition to that, the Chmmr recount: "WE KNOW THE DNYARRI ONLY FROM LEGEND WHERE THEY ARE DESCRIBED AS THE EMBODIMENT OF EVIL AND CRUELTY. IF EVER THERE WAS A DEVIL, CAPTAIN, IT WAS THE DNYARRI".

Prior to the revival of the Alliance of Free Stars a single Talking Pet was discovered by the Ariloulaleelay inside a wrecked Ur-Quan Dreadnought. Finding it badly injured, the Arilou turned the creature over to the Umgah, whose biological skills were superior to their own.

The Umgah not only healed the physical damage of the Dnyarri but also deliberately restored its intelligence, because they thought it would be funny to ask the Dnyarri to transmit fake Ur-Quan commands, such as ordering the Spathi to attack the VUX. To the Umgah's surprise, the restoration of the Dnyarri was too successful and the Dnyarri was able to mind control the entire Umgah race even in a weakened, drugged state. The Dnyarri was eventually defeated by the Captain (the player in Star Control II), who had managed to acquire a Taalo device conferring near immunity to telepathic control, and as a servant of the Captain was instrumental in defeating the Sa-Matra, the Precursor battle platform of the Ur-Quan and Kohr-Ah and the focal point of their power. The Dnyarri was "accidentally" left in the hold of the Captain's flagship, which was sacrificed to destroy the Sa-Matra, while the Captain and his crew ejected in an escape pod.

A comical appearance by the Dnyarri in the closing credits of Star Control II indicates that the Dnyarri somehow managed to survive the destruction of the Sa-Matra. The Dnyarri states that he intends to become the star of the sequel to Star Control II -- which, according to him, will feature his conquest of the galaxy ("for the greater glory of... ME!") alongside action, drama, and gratuitous alien sex scenes.