Voids

nobody truly knows where the mysterious voids came from, but they have independently lived and adapted to life in the vacuum of space. They tend to be found in shipwrecks and as stowaways on ships. Voids are scrawny with long, porcine snouts, about 1 meter tall with a prehensile tail and 4 limbs, each ending in a hand with an opposable thumb. They are mostly hairless and their black hides have an oily, metallic sheen to them. Their eyes and other sensory organs are underdeveloped, making them effectively blind and deaf, but they have extremely sensitive tactile senses, being able to feel tiny, minute vibrations or changes in temperature through their hides or the highly evolved pads in their hands and faces. They expend very little energy and can remain in the vacuum of space for hours at a time before coming back for air and moisture, and their internal biology allows them to feel no ill effects from sudden, drastic changes in pressure or temperature. They are highly intelligent, being able to learn complex commands and even be taught languages through tapping, clicking their teeth, or by a trilling "laughing" noise they can make through their snouts, like a dooking ferret. They are commonly found on space vessels where they are taught to do mechanical work on the exterior of the ship, and mingle with the rest of the crew just the same as any other sapient species. In zero gravity, they are quick, agile, and maneuverable. In gravity, they are sluggish and slow-moving. They are phototrophs, and as such, they do not eat food. Their hide contains chloroplast-like cells which photosynthesize sunlight, and open and close to accommodate more or less sunlight, depending on their distance from the sun. As more of these chloroplast cells open, their hide loses its metallic appearance, and soft, mossy, red protuberances sprout from their skin. These are prone to frostbite in space, and so usually appear on their face, chest, shoulders, and back while in space, but in the temperate atmosphere of a ship, it will freely sprout from head to tail. Most ships with void crew members have a designated spot in the dining area with several lamps focused on a single point, providing adequate light for them to subsist on, although sometimes this is in the void's quarters, so it may bask and sleep. Despite being mostly blind, they can feel their way around and detect organisms within an atmosphere based on slight disturbances in temperature and air pressure, as well as vibrations they make when they walk and speak. In fact, their sense of touch is so sensitive, that they can effectively "hear" with their hands and faces in atmospheres that transmit sound. For this reason, they are also commonly seen with scouts and bounty hunters, able to detect living things from vast distances away through vibrations in the ground.