Grox (Spore)
Encyclopedia
The Grox are an aggressive
and vicious race of mechanically based cyborg
carnivores that rule the center of the Galaxy
in the video game, Spore
. They are commonly thought to be based on the Borg
of the Star Trek
Series because of the striking physical similarities between the two. The Grox are located around the Galactic Core In the Spore Galaxy. There they live on otherwise uninhabitable T0 planets.
Raising a planet's T-Score will make it impossible for the Grox to inhabit it and will destroy any existing Grox colonies on said planet. Although they are most notable for their hostility, they are also notable for their asymmetric, weak, impish appearance. The Grox Empire
is also notable for the fact that it contains 2400 systems with more than 5000 planets.
and anger
(though they do sometimes exhibit other emotions). The Grox are often angry.
In terms of their behaviour, the Grox are extremely aggressive, and seem driven by their obsessive hatred for every other life form.
Another aspect of Grox's personality is their territorial nature. For example, they will most likely attack you when entering their territory (unless you ally with them).
The Grox are also very distrustful of outsiders.The initial amount of trust is shown to be –70, where 0 is totally neutral.
The Grox often make poor threats and compliments due to their misunderstanding of the culture and personality of normal species. Examples include: "You will not get a holiday card this year!" and "Good work! You are a credit to all slow thinking carbon based lifeforms.".
"What foolish mortal deigns to seek countenance with the all powerful and most extraordinary Grox? How dare you disgrace us with your meager and lackluster presence? We care not to breathe the self same air that you have poisoned with your noxious aura."
"After I spend some time berating you, the expectation will be that you begin your exodus out of our system post haste. I feel the need to cleanse my very eyeball after having soiled my retina with the ghastly vision that is your form. Be gone oh foul and unsightly trespasser!"
"Don’t let the gravitational pull of our planet hit you in the backside on your way out!"
or Silicon
have been suggested by fans.
“The Grox are machines with absolutely no sense of humor! They destroy entire races and never offer an explanation of what it is that ticks them off! Even if you bring the Grox a present, they may not like you! The Grox kill anyone who tries to approach the center of the galaxy. We never wanted to go there, anyway.”
- Blocks of Chance
“The Grox are an experiment that has not yet run its course. The Grox are a machine race that guard the center of the galaxy against all life-forms. It is not known whether their ultimate objective is to prevent us from breaking in, or to prevent something else from breaking out. Some of our theoreticians suggest that the motivation for the Grox's actions may lie in the difference between machines and organic life, though there seems to be no way to test this hypothesis.”
- Books of Science
“Spode's greatest enemies are the Grox and those who believe in the false God That Will Come. The Grox are a machine race incapable of understanding the Word of Spode. They are a blasphemy in machine form. The Grox prevent us from shining the light of Spode on the center of the galaxy. On the Day of Reckoning, we shall destroy them in Spode's holy name!"”
- Scrolls of Faith
“The Grox are a soulless race of killing machines. They oppose the Life Force in every way! They are incapable of enlightenment or transcendence. It is not known who or what created the Grox, or why. Some of our peers say that all answers are to be found at the center of the galaxy, but the Grox will not permit anyone to approach.”
- Scrolls of Harmony
“The Grox are a machine race that have blockaded the center of the galaxy. They are extremely dangerous. We have not managed to establish a working relationship with them. It is widely believed that the Grox are guarding some form of treasure at the center of the galaxy. There is no evidence for this, but we cannot discount the possibility.”
- Scrolls of Order
“The Grox are the greatest military challenge on our Horizon. The Grox are a race of machine warriors, armed with powerful weapons unknown to us. They have established a security zone surrounding the center of the galaxy and our intelligence has been unable to determine what goes on behind the blockade. Though the Grox are formidable, machines are incapable of warrior spirit. In time, once the technology gap is narrowed, we will prove more than a match for them.”
- Stones of Force
“The Grox are the ultimate evil in the galaxy. They are machines that exist entirely outside of nature. The Grox are the ultimate perversion, machines designed to live outside of nature, for purposes that are deeply unnatural. Whatever their motivations might be, they are not comprehensible to living beings. The Grox are known to have destroyed several sentient races. The Grox have established a killing zone around the center of the galaxy. No one may enter this zone and live. We theorize that the center of the galaxy may contain vital clues to the origin of the Grox. Live inside nature, and oppose the Grox! That is the duty of every sentient being.”
- Stones of Life
“The Grox are a source of the utmost terror. They have exterminated many races. The Grox are a race of machines. They are incapable of happiness or of understanding the profit motive. The Grox have blockaded the center of the galaxy, so that we cannot trade there.”
- Tablets of Prosperity
Aggressive
“Aggressive” is a New York-based Grammy award-winning music video and commercial directing team of Alex Topaller and Daniel Shapiro.Aggressive has been described by Movie Creation Mag as “having a fascination with the wonderful, in the likes of the surrealist Rafal Olbinski” and “tenacious about...
and vicious race of mechanically based cyborg
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
carnivores that rule the center of the Galaxy
Galaxy
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...
in the video game, Spore
Spore (2008 video game)
Spore is a multi-genre single-player god game developed by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. The game was released for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems in September 2008 as Spore...
. They are commonly thought to be based on the Borg
Borg (Star Trek)
The Borg are a fictional pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms depicted in the Star Trek universe associated with Star Trek.Whereas cybernetics are used by other races in the science fiction world to repair bodily damage and birth defects, the Borg use enforced cybernetic enhancement as a means of...
of the Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
Series because of the striking physical similarities between the two. The Grox are located around the Galactic Core In the Spore Galaxy. There they live on otherwise uninhabitable T0 planets.
Raising a planet's T-Score will make it impossible for the Grox to inhabit it and will destroy any existing Grox colonies on said planet. Although they are most notable for their hostility, they are also notable for their asymmetric, weak, impish appearance. The Grox Empire
Empire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
is also notable for the fact that it contains 2400 systems with more than 5000 planets.
Appearance
The Grox most notably exhibit cybernetic implants that replace the right eye, right arm, right leg, and part of the abdomen.Personality
Grox seem to have little, if any, individual personality, appearing to have no emotions except hatredHatred
Hatred is a deep and emotional extreme dislike, directed against a certain object or class of objects. The objects of such hatred can vary widely, from inanimate objects to animals, oneself or other people, entire groups of people, people in general, existence, or the whole world...
and anger
Anger
Anger is an automatic response to ill treatment. It is the way a person indicates he or she will not tolerate certain types of behaviour. It is a feedback mechanism in which an unpleasant stimulus is met with an unpleasant response....
(though they do sometimes exhibit other emotions). The Grox are often angry.
In terms of their behaviour, the Grox are extremely aggressive, and seem driven by their obsessive hatred for every other life form.
Another aspect of Grox's personality is their territorial nature. For example, they will most likely attack you when entering their territory (unless you ally with them).
The Grox are also very distrustful of outsiders.The initial amount of trust is shown to be –70, where 0 is totally neutral.
The Grox often make poor threats and compliments due to their misunderstanding of the culture and personality of normal species. Examples include: "You will not get a holiday card this year!" and "Good work! You are a credit to all slow thinking carbon based lifeforms.".
Philosophy
The Grox's so-called philosophy, known by some Spore fans as "Groxology", also reflects their temperament. When asked about their philosophy, every other empire in the Spore galaxy responds with some (relative) degree of politeness. However, the Grox respond with:"What foolish mortal deigns to seek countenance with the all powerful and most extraordinary Grox? How dare you disgrace us with your meager and lackluster presence? We care not to breathe the self same air that you have poisoned with your noxious aura."
"After I spend some time berating you, the expectation will be that you begin your exodus out of our system post haste. I feel the need to cleanse my very eyeball after having soiled my retina with the ghastly vision that is your form. Be gone oh foul and unsightly trespasser!"
"Don’t let the gravitational pull of our planet hit you in the backside on your way out!"
Biochemistry
In Spore, the Grox refer to the player and to other alien empires as "slow thinking carbon-based lifeforms" and "carbon wads", implying that the Grox (which are at least partly machine life) are not carbon-based. The Grox are also noted in the game as 'toxic', as exposure to conditions survivable to other life forms causes them to disintegrate which also implies that they are not carbon-based. The Grox also seem to gather sustenance from the radiation of the galactic core, as the Grox colonies are larger the closer they are to the galactic core. There has been no canonical statement on what element the Grox are based on, although SulfurSulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
or Silicon
Silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. A tetravalent metalloid, it is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table...
have been suggested by fans.
Achievements relating to the Grox
Some major achievements involve defeating or befriending the Grox. You can receive the Dance With the Devil badge if you ally with the Grox and you can receive the Badge Outta Heck badge if you destroy the Grox. The player may continue to play after either of these goals have been achieved.Views of the Grox by other empires in the game
The hostility of the Grox has caused other empires to view them as the personification of evil. An example of this is that allying with the Grox will give you a -200 in your relationship with all other empires. This Causes immediate war with any empire that did not have a +150 relationship with you.What the rare artifacts say about the Grox
In the Game all archetypes have an article on how they view the Grox.“The Grox are machines with absolutely no sense of humor! They destroy entire races and never offer an explanation of what it is that ticks them off! Even if you bring the Grox a present, they may not like you! The Grox kill anyone who tries to approach the center of the galaxy. We never wanted to go there, anyway.”
- Blocks of Chance
“The Grox are an experiment that has not yet run its course. The Grox are a machine race that guard the center of the galaxy against all life-forms. It is not known whether their ultimate objective is to prevent us from breaking in, or to prevent something else from breaking out. Some of our theoreticians suggest that the motivation for the Grox's actions may lie in the difference between machines and organic life, though there seems to be no way to test this hypothesis.”
- Books of Science
“Spode's greatest enemies are the Grox and those who believe in the false God That Will Come. The Grox are a machine race incapable of understanding the Word of Spode. They are a blasphemy in machine form. The Grox prevent us from shining the light of Spode on the center of the galaxy. On the Day of Reckoning, we shall destroy them in Spode's holy name!"”
- Scrolls of Faith
“The Grox are a soulless race of killing machines. They oppose the Life Force in every way! They are incapable of enlightenment or transcendence. It is not known who or what created the Grox, or why. Some of our peers say that all answers are to be found at the center of the galaxy, but the Grox will not permit anyone to approach.”
- Scrolls of Harmony
“The Grox are a machine race that have blockaded the center of the galaxy. They are extremely dangerous. We have not managed to establish a working relationship with them. It is widely believed that the Grox are guarding some form of treasure at the center of the galaxy. There is no evidence for this, but we cannot discount the possibility.”
- Scrolls of Order
“The Grox are the greatest military challenge on our Horizon. The Grox are a race of machine warriors, armed with powerful weapons unknown to us. They have established a security zone surrounding the center of the galaxy and our intelligence has been unable to determine what goes on behind the blockade. Though the Grox are formidable, machines are incapable of warrior spirit. In time, once the technology gap is narrowed, we will prove more than a match for them.”
- Stones of Force
“The Grox are the ultimate evil in the galaxy. They are machines that exist entirely outside of nature. The Grox are the ultimate perversion, machines designed to live outside of nature, for purposes that are deeply unnatural. Whatever their motivations might be, they are not comprehensible to living beings. The Grox are known to have destroyed several sentient races. The Grox have established a killing zone around the center of the galaxy. No one may enter this zone and live. We theorize that the center of the galaxy may contain vital clues to the origin of the Grox. Live inside nature, and oppose the Grox! That is the duty of every sentient being.”
- Stones of Life
“The Grox are a source of the utmost terror. They have exterminated many races. The Grox are a race of machines. They are incapable of happiness or of understanding the profit motive. The Grox have blockaded the center of the galaxy, so that we cannot trade there.”
- Tablets of Prosperity