Proper Name: Mongminzu ("Children of the Voice") Singular: Mongminze

Status

Semi-nomadic race seeking a home where they'll be "left alone" to thrive in their own culture. As such, they often seek out planets with harsher conditions (deemed less habitable by most standards) that are distant from other powers.

Physical Characteristics

short statured (most range from 3'2" to 3'8"), dark skinned, where Terran eyes are white, the Mongminzu's eyes are black, and their equivalent of an "iris" is deep red. Similar to a terran mammal, the Mongminzu have short silvery hair all over their body.
Senses: Taste, touch, smell, and hearing much like a Terran's. They see in the infrared spectrum rather than the Terran's "visible light" spectrum.
Genders: Male and Female.

Visual Range: Infrared Spectrum Only
Like Terrans they breathe O2, although they require low partial O2 pressures to do so.
Twinning is common among the Mongminzu - and most twins are identical. Only about 3% of births are singlets. While family relationships are close, the relationship between twins is incredibly close. While not measurably telepathic, twins frequently experience low-grade empathy, even when separated by major differences.

The "Children of the Voice" have a deep-seeded oral tradition. Their history is not written but told, and only to their own kind. No outsider has been told of it unless they have also been joined to the community for the rest of their lives, leaving their own people. They believe that spoken words are to be solemnized. Nothing is said without profound contemplation, even if a slow answer means death.
Family is of utmost importance to the Mongminzu. They live and travel in their large extended families presided over by a Matriarch, called a Myanzu ("The Elder Voice"), who is almost always the oldest-living female in the family. In marriage, a male becomes part of his female's clan.
While they will fight fiercely if cornered, the Mongminzu prefer to flee if the option is viable. Above all they resist assimilation or damage

Other than warp-drive, they have few major technologies. They have small vessels, comparable to Starfleet shuttlecraft, for small scale transport and large ships for moving whole tribes (Minzao) and colonies (Hmunzuyi) (usually 3-4 tribes). Their large ships have a max warp of 9.2 but can sustain it for over a year. They have no transporters.
They have hull plates similar to Starfleet's ablative armor and a plasma based beam-weapon technology comparable to Starfleet's Type X phasers.
They use maintenance robots (Zuyana) for menial tasks.

Their economy is based on bartering. When possible, they prefer to trade within their own race, but for necessary items they will barter with outside cultures.