An Arm or a Tentacle? Creating the species of Dominion

One of the more interesting aspects of our board game is the need to come up with 4 interesting playable factions. Dominion, a game of galactic expansion and conquest immediately gives us a lot of scope for creating some interesting races to choose from. Most popular science fiction today, especially main stream television and computer games, tend to use the same sorts of clichéd aliens and locations, Star Trek and Stargate being some of the worst offenders. While much of this is usually due to budget constraints and trying to appeal to a wider audience, there is still a clear lack of imagination and effort put into this side of popular science fiction. Most aliens are humanoid, speak English, breathe oxygen and so on while the locations are all very similar to Earths environments (Every planet in the Stargate universe looking very similar to the woods of Vancouver). For Dominion, we wanted to create an interesting blend of creatures to choose from that the player can use to depopulate the galaxy in their favour.

The game brief was a for a game of 2- 4 players, so we needed to give the factions something to fight over.
Humanity was included to give the player choice where they could easily relate to, and to appeal to people who might not be very familiar with the general science fiction setting. We wanted to create some races that had some interesting backstories and each with their own look and feel, while remaining as original as possible. Normally you have the standard situations of humanity being attacked or invaded by a vastly more advanced and over-the-top evil alien species. Earth is often targeted because the aliens wanting to steal its resources or water. When you look at this situation rationally it usually falls on its face. The fact is there are bigger planets with more resources, comets and other celestial bodies made entirely of frozen water, existing throughout space that has the benefit of no indigenous population that need to be subjugated. While the fight for space and resources is usually the cause of most human conflict, in a vast resource rich universe, it is hard to justify this as a realistic reason for starting an interstellar war.

So we wanted to create some aliens that were so different from one another that conflict was inevitable. Our four races we named, Humanity, speaks for itself, The Gelf, hardy aliens from the centre of the galaxy, The Riem, bizarre creatures from the depths of gas giant planets and the Kernal, a species of biomechanical creatures with advanced nanotechnology. We also wanted to avoid having images of the creatures themselves as we wanted the player to imagine their own mental image of these aliens. Similarly, when it came to the design and look of their spacecraft, we wanted to keep the player thinking, so simple silhouettes were used to represent the different vessels. This meant that the different fleets could still have a distinct look, but without overloading on detail.

When it came to creating the species backstories, it was important again to try to stay away from the 'standard' science fiction settings. Humanity is usually portrayed as the victims of a belligerent alien empire, so instead, in Dominion, Humanity is an expansive impatient species that is rapidly expanding throughout the galaxy, much to the alarm of the other species. We are also warlike and have no gripes getting into the occasional squabbles with our neighbours as we push ever further towards their space.


The Gelf are an old species from the galactic core, which is lethal to life due to the high energy radiation being spewed from the densely packed stars. The Gelf were a slow and ponderous race that was unaware of life outside their own region of space until relatively recently. They have tough durable bodies and this is similar with their technology, which is needs to be rugged to survive in their natural environment. They also contrast with humanities high rate of expansion and consumption.

The Riem then, come from deep within gas giant planets. This was an interesting idea as gas giants are by far the most common types of worlds in the universe. There seems to be no reason why these could not be home to some forms of bizarre life. So from the hot dark depths, where hydrogen is compressed into a think fluid, then finally metal, come the Riem. So extreme and different are these aliens, that some worship them as gods. The Riem encourage this belief as they can use their followers to extend their influence and help them to spreads throughout space. This also gives the game a theological aspect, as some Riem special abilities can take advantage of their revered position in the different species societies.

Finally we had the Kernal, a race of creatures that are an amalgamation of biological and mechanical parts at the nanoscopic level. They are hardy and are capable of surviving in a huge variety of different environments. Their spacecraft are fluid and ever shifting, the crew forming part of the ship itself, and are capable of growing new components as required. Despite their advanced nature, they are still susceptible to the drives and hatreds they lived with before their present state and so in terms of their goals, are quite similar to humanity.

So with these different factions, we hope to make the game as interesting as possible. As the game develops, we hope to incorporate race specific features that will give them each a distinct playing style. Kernal ships could change into different forms, Gelf spacecraft are very tough, Riem can convert enemy spacecraft crews and Humans can colonise more quickly. With these and other features, the game can hopefully have interesting dynamic factions that will keep the play experience and varied and fun as possible.