Little or nothing is known of the Thonisian race. Their home planet of Thonisa orbits a red dwarf star, one with suitable warmth to sustain life, but not much light. They find themselves blinded in Human or Karpian environments, and what Vortians call light would, without significant protection, blind Thonisians through their own closed eyelids.

Culturally they consider the showing of any skin a deeply personal and intimate act, and thusly always cover themselves. The cloaks they wear protect them from light quite well while allowing them to see.

Never considering documentation important, the roots of their civilization is not known even to themselves, though what they do know they guard fiercely. They guard everything, in fact. Technology and information is their currency. They trade new technologies with each others and, on rare occasion, with other races (though only when they can't steal the technology). They've mastered the art of theft, and consider it part of the natural order of the world.

The misconception therefore is that they are dark, stupid creatures. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They are quite intelligent. Unfortunately they simply aren't very organized, and the thought of developing their own technologies and equipment seems to them far more tedious than stealing it.

The result is that they are not the masters of any one field. Humans make better engines, Karpians better weapons, and Vortians better cloaks and shields. The Thonisians, even when they steal the best technologies, still take years to implement them. Thus Thonisians are the masters of no technology, but they tend to be better than average in all of the fields. The downside is that they often suffer skill penalties - as they don't always know exactly how to run the equipment.

Nobody knows their interest in Andromeda, but it's ferocious. The race that rarely fights for anything is going out full force. Maybe it's a strategic reason, maybe they want the Talavari crystals for some unknown purposes, or perhaps they have some darker purpose. Whatever the reason, they'll stop at nothing to secure the planet.