$W{ SHIVANS
From the Encyclopedia Galactica (Ising University of Antares ed., January 2399) $}

BINOMIAL NAME: Destructor mundorum (Kirck, 2335)
LANGUAGE: unknown
PLACE OF ORIGIN: unknown
FIRST CONTACT: 2335-1-7, Riviera Station, Ross 128

Six and a half decades and two Great Wars after first contact, we still know almost nothing about the Shivans. 

Physically, the Shivans have multiple, compound eyes and five legs with claw-like manipulators.  Their insect-like carapace does not appear original to the creature's physiognomy, suggesting the Shivans are a cybernetic fusion of biology and technology.  The integrated plasma weapon, exhibiting properties of an organic-artificial fusion, may be a kind of focusing device powered by the energy of the being itself, though this point is the subject of heated controversy.

These physical features are cited as evidence that the Shivans could not have evolved as the Terran or Vasudan species had, but that they were likely constructed by another entity.  Only a handful of Shivans have ever been captured, and all research on live specimens officially ended after the Hades Rebellion (2335-36).  The results of these studies remain highly classified to this day.

Though they are obviously xenocidal, Shivan motives and origins have yet to be determined.  According to Ancient artifacts, they seem to possess some kind of sensitivity to subspace disturbances.  We do not know if the Shivans returned to this corner of the galaxy by chance, by cycle or pattern, or by their detection of Terran-Vasudan subspace travel.  

Xenobiologists know very little about Shivan society.  Their communication seems to occur in the electromagnetic spectrum, through quantum pulses.  The sole known successful attempt at communication with the Shivans was carried out by Admiral Aken Bosch, supreme leader of the Neo-Terran Front.  In 2367, he sought out the Shivans in the nebula system beyond Gamma Draconis, and reportedly managed to establish rudimentary communications.  Bosch and his staff were then allegedly captured in the first and only known example of Shivan abduction, though how willingly they left has since been the subject of fiction and non-fiction alike.