Grox

The Grox are a sapient species of cyborg aliens that are supposedly the most evil and hostile race in the SPORE world, and possibly even the UUniverses. They are feared by every alien with a philosophy and an archetype. The Grox control a vast empire with 2400 star systems and inhabit anywhere near their galaxy's Galactic Core. They are unique as they don't possess any known archetype and have a unique philosophy.

Stones of Life
Feared and hated by every empire in the galaxy, the Grox as a species are extremely delicate and weak having survived only due to their incredible technological advancement over other species. They are an ancient race, having been spacefaring for eons while nearly all other races weren't even sapient yet. Although their minimal senses and strength have been enhanced by cybernetic implants, they're still among the most feeble sapient lifeforms in the Galaxy, but make up for it with incredible military might, and the ability to prosper on barren planets.

Unlike most land creatures, Grox are intolerant of conditions survivable to other life forms. As such, they can only survive on T0 planets. If a planet's terrascore is raised, the planet cannot be inhabited by Grox unless anti-terraformed. It may be true that, since every religious artifact mentions that the Grox must be opposed, they are of another archetype; it would appear that they are an archetype unto themselves. They are incredibly territorial, blocking vast majority of spaceships from reaching the Galactic Core, possibly to keep the Staff of Life hidden, which might endanger them. The Grox' spaceships can be seen in the Creature Stage, occasionally abducting creatures, so the Grox may have been the first sapient beings to evolve.

Blocks of Chance
The implants of the Grox serve an important religious, as well as functional, purpose. The implants not only improve their abilities for functional reasons, but also distance the Grox from others. The implants' purpose may also be to remind them of their own physical weakness, which would explain why the Grox consider other empires unfit to roam the universe, due to the belief that they don't deserve their gifts. The Grox may attempt to mimic the average life form's behavior during interaction, but they are bad at portraying a 'normal' personality without drawing attention to their cyborg anatomy and their obsessive hatred for every other life form. They do, however, understand the Spice trade and Sporebucks, the common Galactic Currency.

Toxicity
The Grox are 'toxic', as exposure to conditions survivable to other life forms causes them to disintegrate. If the player abducts a Grox citizen, they are incinerated because they are 'too toxic for your Cargo Hold.' This 'toxicity' is shrouded in mystery, but it does indeed tie in to how the Grox Empire is viewed by other civilizations, as an abomination of incomprehensible size that must nevertheless be feared.

Aggression
The Grox are approximately two times as distrusting as a Warrior Empire (-15 or -30 compared to the Grox's -70). They are extremely hard to defeat or ally due to their size and aggression. They will attack systems tens of thousands of parsecs away in their war on all fully organic life, and once attacked the receiving planet of the Grox raid always seems to be too shell-shocked to communicate with the player's ship.

In Other Cultures
Almost all philosophies hate the Grox. Scientists and Diplomats don't actively hate them, as Scientists are somewhat admiring and are curious about them (possibly because of their technological achievement), while Diplomats regard them as a powerful potential ally. Bards think of them as "no fun at all" and accuse them of "not explaining what ticks them off." Warriors and Knights view them as the ultimate challenge and rivals, Traders regard them as enemies of universal happiness, Zealots hate them for not believing in Spode, and Shamans and Ecologists say they are unable to reach harmony due to their murderous hatred of nature. They are also disliked due to their ownership of the contested Galactic Core, desired by all (except possibly Bards, who say "we never wanted to go there anyway", although this may just be a case of sour grapes).

Role in the series
The Grox in the series have very legit appearances. They have had a war against the Galactic Federation that lasted over 156 years. It wasn't until the Grand Council called a truce that it ended after several of their worlds were ravaged by this powerful race. Though they agree not to attack alien worlds (with a few exceptions such as Dragma), they attack non-alien worlds after some end up wandering into their space territories, or for several offenses. They caused the Dragon Realms Great Grox War which Senator Tricorn and several others fought against. Though some believe that these warmongering creatures do not exist.