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Characters / Spore

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While the actual creatures of the Spore universe are largely generated by the playerbase (outside the Cell Stage), there are many common archetypes the game uses to categorize them for player interactions.

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Cell Stage

    Cells in general 
Various other cells of creatures on the road to evolution.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: A necessity when fighting some cells, especially Epics.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Cell Stage is the only stage without player-made content present, not even a cameo from your previous cells.
  • Exclusive Enemy Equipment: The only cell parts unlocked at the start a herbivore and carnivore mouths, flagella and eyes. Everything else must be unlocked, and the only other way to unlock them aside from a dead cell is through a randomly generated meteor shards.
  • Informed Species: The fully-developed eyeballs, mandibles, and mating process means that these organisms would probably be better described as plankton than cells.
  • Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Cells with Poison and Electric are immune to their respective effects.
  • Unusable Enemy Equipment: Some enemy cell parts ere not available in the normal cell editor.
  • Vampiric Draining: How omnivore cells like Bloato and Nosey feed on other cells.

    Level 1 Cells 

Minno

  • Monster Munch: They have a speed of 1 and can't even defend themselves because they only have eyes, a Flagella and a Filter Mouth to eat with.
  • The Goomba: The first cells you encounter, and if you're not playing on hard, then definitely the only ones.

Goldy

  • Early-Bird Boss: In hard mode they spawn in level 1.0 as Epics. They also double as an Advancing Boss of Doom at this point in the game.

Pokey

  • Mighty Glacier: Only slightly faster than Minnos, but they can actually defend themselves with their spikes.
  • Sacrificial Lamb: A member of their species is reduced to a Chomper's Monster Munch in easy and normal difficulties to teach you how cell parts are unlocked.
  • The Spiny: Downplayed, as you can still flank them pretty easily.

Chomper

  • Mook Debut Cutscene: In easy and normal difficulties they introduce themselves and the existence of predator-sized cells by eating a Pokey alive.
  • Lightning Bruiser: They are the second fastest cell in level 1 of the Cell Stage, and they debut as predators to boot. But once you've got to level 2, they're demoted to Master of None.

    Level 2 Cells 

Shyster and Spiked Shyster

  • Ax-Crazy: Spiked Shysters have some anger management problems alright.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Spiked Shysters almost never attack regular Shysters and will even attack you if you attack their friends.
  • Fragile Speedster: Shysters, who unlike their Spiked relatives don't have spikes and can't defend themselves.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Spiked Shysters have the greatest speed stat in level 2 and have spikes on the front (including the mouth), making them a dangerous foe.
  • Thicker Than Water: They make up one of the few cell relations in the game.

Booster

  • Fragile Speedster: With their jets they outspeed even the Shysters, but they turn around slowly, which you can exploit to kill them once they're cornered.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: They have a single jet and no flagellas.

Grubby

Squirty

  • Giant Squid: Debut as Predators.
  • Jack of All Stats: 3 speed and poison trail behind them makes it pointless to chase them, and they're no slouches in attacking either.
  • Lean and Mean: They are very aggressive, and also the longest cells in the game - they have 8 spine segments, your cells and Boosters have 6, and the rest have 5.
  • Poisonous Person: Their Poison sack allows them to generate a toxic cloud behind them and No-Sell their opponents'.
  • Violation of Common Sense: The easiest way to get the Poison part is to put on a Spike part and attack Squirties in the mouth while they're still predator-sized; if you wait until they and you are on equal footing, they'll flee when you try to attack and probably kill you with their poison.

Stabber

    Level 3 Cells 

Stabella

Pinky and Punky

Nosey

Ducky

Jawhead

    Level 4 Cells 

Buzzy and Needle Buzzy

  • Elite Mooks: Neddle Buzzies in relation to Buzzies, they have more electric parts, have spikes, appear one level later, and are carnivorous.
  • Glass Cannon: Needle Buzzies have spikes in their mouth and their faster than regular Buzzies', but they have only 2 speed and a single spike in front, making them vulnerable to flanking.
  • Monster Munch: While electric shocks do in fact serve as a deterrent, they have to be recharged, and Buzzies have a speed of 1 on top of that.
  • Superior Successor: Needle Buzzies to Buzzies, since the former appear when the latter becomes prey-sized.
  • Shock and Awe: The only cells with electric parts.
  • Thicker Than Water: Much like the Shysters/Spiked Shysters, Stabbers/Stabellas, and Pinky/Punkies before them, they form relations with eachother.

Squiggly

  • Bigger Is Better: One of the 2 only herbivore cells larger than peer, and the only one that appears as an Epic in easy difficulty, for unknown reasons.
  • Carnivore Confusion: A literal example: It was originaly meant to be carnivorous, but it got changed into a herbivore, but still tries to bite you after you attack it.
  • Jack of All Stats: They're for all intents and purposes slightly faster Pokeys

Puffish

  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Start off as Epic Cells.
  • Mighty Glacier: Perhaphs the ultimate example at this stage: They're first encountered as Epics, they have spikes on their sides AND poison, but they only have a speed of 1.
  • Painful Pointy Pufferfish: They're round, they've got the spikes, they're poisonous and even their names are similar!
  • Poisonous Person: Much like with the Squirties, their Poison ability allows them to generate a toxic cloud behind them and grants them immunity to the player's poison.
  • The Spiny: Spikes protrude out of both of their flanks.

Megamouth

  • Advancing Boss of Doom: The closest thing to that trope since the Stabber, only a small part of their body is uncovered, which makes fighting them as Epics a pain in the neck.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever
  • Mighty Glacier: For all their offensive and defensive capabilities, they've still got 1 speed, meaning that the best way to deal with a predator/epic-sized Megamouth is to run away.
  • Too Many Mouths: Five jaws on the front to be exact.
  • The Spiny: This cell gives the Stabber a run for his money.

    Level 5 Cells 

Maa, Paa and Juniors

  • Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: For some reason Maas are herbivorous and Paas (and Juniors) are carnivorous.
  • Kaizo Trap: Maas are very slow and can't defend themselves, but they burst into eggs after they die.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Paas are faster than juniors, but not as numerous
  • Mook Maker: The Maa lay eggs that hatch into Juniors.
  • Papa Wolf: The Paa are more prone to attacking you if you try to kill a Maa or Junior.
  • The Power of Family: They have the biggest cell relationship in the game, a one woven into the gameplay too.
  • Zerg Rush: The Juniors' favorite tactic is to latch from the eggs layed by their mother and bumrush your cell like it's no tommorrow.

Jetster

  • Fragile Speedster: The ultimate cell stage example: Boosters had a single jet, Noseys had 5. The Jetsters have seven, and they're also herbivores with no way to defend themselves again.

Bloato

  • Lightning Bruiser: A Predator cell with the speed of 4, great turning ability and the Proboscis. The only weakness they might have is the lack of weapons.
  • Unique Enemy: Only appears in Level 5.5.
  • Vampiric Draining: The second and last of the 2 Maxis omnivore cells.

Snorf

Creature Stage

    Creatures in general 
The many non-sapient animals of the planet.
  • Amazing Technicolor Wildlife You can paint your creatures (and to lesser extent cells) in all the colors of the rainbow, in many different styles.
  • Animals Lack Attributes: Enforced Trope for obvious reasons.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: Player input notwithstanding, all creatures lay eggs, but will sometimes appear in cocoons. They can also all eat eggs, including the herbivores.
  • Evil Egg Eater: "Evil" may be strong of a word depending on how you view your creature's morality, but eating the eggs of other species is a viable way to gain DNA and advance the game without killing or befriending creatures and Creature Stage can be beaten with 100% of DNA accumulated in the run coming from egg heists. The only 2 downsides of this challenge is that depending on your luck, Creature Stage can become slow as you search from nest to nest for them; and eating the eggs of another species has a chance of pissing them off and wanting you dead should you revisit them again.
  • Predation Is Natural

    Nomadic Creatures 
Sometimes you'll encounter a pack of these creatures. They don't have a nest and are not usually friendly.
  • Always Chaotic Evil: Most of the time, these creatures are enemies of the player's species and attack.
  • Demonic Spiders: They can interrupt friendship attempts, can ambush you during the night, and can easily kill you if you're alone, get careless, or both.
  • Wolfpack Boss: You'll be fighting these creatures all at once, unless your creature know siren song or sneak, in which the battle can be avoided, and/or you can befriend them. If they have the spit ability, you won't be able to use the sneak option.

    Rogues 
Rogues are solitary creatures that are more powerful than normal and give off tons of DNA if you kill or befriend them.
  • The Big Guy: If you manage to befriend them.
  • Mini-Boss: They have more HP than normal and can pack a punch.
  • Lone Wolf Boss: A literal example, they are usually found alone.

    Epics 
Epics are giant and hostile creatures that occur in all stages of Spore.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Whatever indeed given it can be on of many creatures in the game.
  • Boss Battle: Excluding Tribes, Cities, and Colonies, Epic Creatures are the closest thing to traditional boss fights in Spore.
  • Breath Weapon: They have the ability to spit fireballs in civilization and space stages. They can also do that in creature stage, but they use it a lot less often.
  • Giant Mook: Are reduced to this in Galactic adventures. Though this can be subverted or straight-up averted since you can increase their health and attack power to turn them into a proper boss enemy.
  • Home Base: Believe it or not, some Epics actually nest. Their "nest" is a massive dirt indent in the ground where a lot of skeletons litter it. These skeletons that make up these graveyards are likely the remains of the Epic Creature's prey.
  • King Mook: It is possible that an epic that spawned belongs to another species of non-epics. Befriending or allying the non-epics will actually get the epics on your side, although they can't be added to your pack.
  • Our Giants Are Bigger: They are massively large creatures.
    • There are also Hyper Sized Epics, who are even larger... or rather were, because the only things that are left of them are bones and footprints.
  • Recurring Boss: They appear in every stage of the game onwards.

    Sea Monster 
A gigantic creature that will devour anything foolish enough to go into the sea. Usually you.
  • Border Patrol: Exists to make sure you can't get to any other continents on the planet in the Creature stage. You can't beat it so just stay away from the dark parts of the ocean. Don't try to fly over it either, it can jump really high.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: No mention of it after finishing the Tribal Stage.
  • Fiendish Fish: Looks at least partially like a fish with arms.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Human-controlled Tribes with the Omnivore card can summon him to blow the fish onto the shores. He'll even wave to the chieftain!
  • Instakill Mook: Will gulp your creature up in one bite killing them instantly.
  • Sea Monster: A huge powerful beast who could probably take out an epic with ease.

    The Aliens 
Your little planet might get a few visitors from time to time.
  • Alien Abduction: They can appear in the Creature Stage to obtain some animal and plant samples
  • Aliens Steal Cattle: That sometimes happens in the Tribal Stage.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Sometimes the alien species that visits you will be none other than the Grox themselves!
  • The Faceless: You never actually see the species proper, only their spaceships.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Chances are, you probably won't ever see them again after the tribal stage.

Tribal Stage

    Tribes in general 
Various once regular animals who have achieved sapience. Alongside your own tribe, there are rival tribes whom you can destroy or befriend. Some are neutral to your presence, while others though may hate you for no reason and will periodically attack.
  • The Beastmaster: Tribes with the Adaptable card can summon animals to help with fighting or socializing. Bonus points for the ability in question being literally named "Beastmaster"
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: It doesn't matter if you destroy a tribe or befriend it, by the time the Civilization Stage rolls around, they all will either go extinct or fade away into animal obscurity.
  • Heel–Face Turn: It is possible to make even your sworn enemies warm up to you by bringing them gifts, and you can befriend them afterwards.
  • Kill It with Fire:
    • Flaming Torches deal low damage to creatures, but are very damaging to buildings, and are available from the start for herbivore tribes.
    • Tribes with the Predator card will get Fire Bombs for their chieftain.
  • Low-Tech Spears: Throwing spears are the ranged weapon option in the Tribal Stage, which as its name suggests, revolves around a hunter-gatherer Stone Age society.

Civilization Stage

    In general 
Your race isn't quite united yet, there are numerous nations across the planet seeking to unite the world under one banner. It is up to you to have your nation take all the others either via religious preaching, military might, or buying them out.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: If there's just one opposing empire left and they're down to one city, odds are they'll just surrender before you can capture it.
  • Mirror Boss: In the Civilization Stage, the main opponents are other cities of your species, even cities that share the same archetype as you.
  • Three Approach System: The green and red pathways start to blend here, but there are still three means of taking over the world.
    • Military empires obliterate anything that oppose them, being able to attack Epics and turrets.
    • Economic empires give gifts and trade routes to potential allies, taking over other cities by giving them enough money to simply buy them out.
    • Religious empires force their enemies to follow their doctrine, while also focusing on entertainment buildings.

    Military Nations 
"Military civilizations thrive on weapons and force. They'll use every resource available to destroy other nations."
Nations with a fondness for weapons and power, they are more interested in destroying their enemies than converting them or buying them out.
  • A Commander Is You: Brute Force - Their strategy is the most straightforward, their vehicles are the only ones that can attack Epics, and their turrets are also the most powerful.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Their end goal.
  • Boring, but Practical: Their military units don't do extra special stuff like religious and economic units do, but they destroy their enemies the quickest.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: The voice used for Military Nations sound like this. Also, see Training from Hell below.
  • The Empire: They're not very big just yet, but they're heavilly militaristic, and aim for the world conquest like the rest.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Militaristic nations will get a negative 90-100 relation bonus when you use weapons such as a Gadget Bomb or ICBM.
  • Fight Clubbing: One of the random events in a military city involves a group of civilians congregating somewhere in the city to watch two citizens beat each other up.
  • Might Makes Right: Implied through their style of world conquest.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: Economic empires prefer convincing their allies that they'd be more prosperous under their government, and Religious empires prefer forcefully converting preexisting cities to their beliefs. Military empires just obliterate anything that stands against them.
  • Physical Fitness Punishment: One of the random events used in a military city is one of them (likely, a sergeant) forcing some of the citizens to do push ups.
  • War Is Glorious: Sometimes, an official of a military city gives a speech in front of a crowd using a megaphone. They are usually accompanied with two armed guards as they make punching motions, so the speech is likely about war and crushing the enemy. Also, See the quote above.

    Economic Nations 
"Economic civilizations use cash and trade routes to influence other nations. They'll form alliances, but it's usually a better deal for them."

Nations who are master traders, with their economic units they can trade with others cities and eventually purcahse them. They easily make money even without spice geysers, but in exchange their vehicles cannot attack.

  • A Commander Is You: Unconventional: Pacifist/Economist/Diplomat - Their vehicles are completely unable to attack, what they do instead is trading with other civilizations to earn more sporebucks and buy out the competition.
  • Hegemonic Empire: Their ambition.
  • Martial Pacifist: Their vehicles are completely defenseless, but they still have turrets to defend their cities with, and they're not afraid to use them.
  • Non-Action Guy: They're the only Civ archetype to not attack their enemies with either force or words.
  • Pacifist Run: Assuming that you only trade with other cities and change their archetype to economic every time, you can easily win without getting your hands/claws/paws/tentacles bloody nor forcefully trying to change any city's respective religion.
  • Suicidal Pacifist: A major flaw for the Economic Nations is their vehicles' nonexistent firepower.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: To an extent; giving other nations financial gifts and maintaing trade routes can let you get away with a lot, but if you keep antagonizing them it'll only work for so long.

    Religious Nations 
"Religious civilizations harness the power of words and ideas to convert other nations to their way of thinking."
Zealous nations who desire to convert all other nations to their doctrine. Their vehicles don't attack per say, instead they literally fire their sermons out at a target. This allows them to convert cities, disable entertainment buildings, and even pacify epic creatures.
  • A Commander Is You: Technical - They conquer cities not by force, but by disabling the entertainment buildings and turrets, before converting the populace. Their vehicles deal pitiful damage to vehicles, but can instead charm Epics for a limited time.
  • Blasphemous Boast: Insulting them will make say that the Source looks down on you and your creations.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Their base attack can convert animals to their cause, even Epics. When a city is nearing conversion, some of the citizens that are influenced by the invader's religion will cheer on the invader or mock their city's city hall. This can happen on a temporarily Citywide scale with one of the religious nation abilities known as the Diplo Dervish, and on a worldwide scale with the Fanatical Uprising superweapon.
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus: Religious nations worship a deity called The Source. It is unknown what is its relation to the other deities.
  • Defiant Stone Throw: Citizens not believing or approving the invading religious nation's religion will damage vehicles by doing this.
  • Healing Factor: Player controlled Religious nations can use the ability, Healing Aura, to repair their vehicles and buildings.
  • Heel–Faith Turn: Religious cities can retake their cities this way.
    • Faith–Heel Turn: Meanwhile, the opposite is true if one of your cities is taken over by another nation.
  • The Killjoy: Invading religious nations will often go for the entertainment buildings and turrets first before fully converting the target city. One of their abilities, the Black Cloud does that on a larger scale.
  • Technical Pacifist: They do in fact attack their enemies, but with Religious propaganda and proselytizing instead of violence.

Space Stage

    Bard Empires 
"Bards are the social, outgoing entertainers of the cosmos. The galaxy is their personal playground."

Hedonistic and likely completely insane aliens obsessed with fun and goofing off.

  • The Anti-Nihilist: Their motivation, as explained in the Blocks of Chance:
    "Look, we searched for the meaning of life. We tried to find out why we were here, what our purpose was, whether life had value, and what truly mattered."
    "Here are the results of our search for meaning: Where do space travelers leave their ships? At parking meteors!"
    "There is no purpose. There is no value. There is no point. Life is ridiculous."
    "The universe is one big joke, and the joke is on us."
    "The best we can hope for is entertainment. We'll get along as long as you provide amusement — fighting our wars for us, fixing our worlds, looking for meaning where there is none, and groveling in the dirt to fetch us plants. So keep it up! Just remember that we're laughing all the time."
  • Chaotic Stupid: Even if you are allied with them, there is a chance they will declare war on you for grins and giggles.
  • The Hedonist: Bards are obsessed with recreation and pleasure, and are constantly looking for new forms of entertainment.
  • Hidden Depths: As the Blocks of Chance reveal, the Bards are actually rather nihilistic, having come to the revelation that there is no meaning to existence. The only thing they can search for in its stead is entertainment.
  • Mid-Battle Tea Break: One of the most common uses for Soothing Song is to break up a fight for two minutes so you can either retreat or trade with your enemy. Perversely, you can even make them recharge your health in that time period or sell you the very weapons you'd immediately use to crush them with.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: It's easy to forget that, despite their antics, they are a space empire that can grow to encompass dozens of systems and fleets of starships. While not as aggressive as Warriors or Zealots, once a war starts they're as dangerous as any other empire.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: They are very immature in demeanor, and seem unable to comprehend why other empires are so serious all the time. Their shrill voice evokes that of a particularly energetic toddler.
  • Sapient Eat Sapient: They apparently eat aliens from time to time, and often innocently threaten to do it to the player... even if they're herbivores. One of their First Contact messages simply reads, "Are you food?"

    Diplomat Empires 
"Diplomats are negotiators and problem solvers. Peace will come to the galaxy only through open communication between species."

Incredibly gentle aliens who seek out more allies and emphasize peace and harmony.

  • The Atoner: They regard themselves as having "made every imaginable mistake" prior to unifying under their democratic government.
    "We've fought unnecessary wars, we've abused the environment, we've squandered resources, and furthermore we've wasted a lot of time discussing what to do about all these problems."
    "We would like to think we have learned from all our mistakes. And what we have learned is this: Every sentient being matters."
  • The Federation: They believe in diplomacy and alliance-building over conquest.
  • Nice Guy: They're easily the friendliest of the alien personalities.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: Events such as Grox attacks or eco-disasters will usually prompt a "Vote to Take Immediate Action", which will keep them busy while the player solves their problem for them. This is lampshaded in one of the Scrolls of Order with the justification that, while slow, their method is at least more likely to provide a response that benefits the majority of their citizens.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: They avoid war when possible, allow freedom of religion for their citizens, and have no xenophobic tendencies whatsoever. They're very easy to get along with.
  • Reluctant Warrior: They will go to war with you if you attack them or break the Galactic Code, though they openly regret having to do so.
  • Time Stands Still: Their Static Cling superpower immobilizes all ships and turrets on a planet, allowing the player to either escape or embark on a Time-Freeze Trolling Spree.

    Ecologist Empires 
"Ecologists are the protectors of nature. Species that attempt to exploit and corrupt the galaxy must be exterminated."

Eccentric aliens who are staunch defenders of nature and masters of terraforming.

  • Animal Lover: Naturally. Their excuse for asking you to halt an eco-disaster on their planets is that they just can't bring themselves to euthanize the infected animals.
  • Animal Wrongs Group: Their flavor text says they will attack species that don't respect nature. In practice, however, they have no problem whatsoever with you killing off species or inflicting Hostile Terraforming on habitable planets (unless, of course, you do it to one of theirs).
  • Arch-Enemy: They despise the Grox, for entirely understandable reasons.
    "The Grox are the ultimate perversion, machines designed to live outside of nature, for purposes that are deeply unnatural. Whatever their motivations might be, they are not comprehensible to living beings."
  • Cowardly Lion: They are especially skittish and the player can terrify them just by speaking to them unexpectedly, but make them angry and they fight back hard.
  • Fling a Light into the Future: Their interest in Terraforming is partially motivated by a desire to ensure that life survives in the universe even if their empire falls apart.
  • Friend to All Living Things: They revere nature, and despise those who destroy it needlessly.
  • Shout-Out: Their Safari Vacuum superpower, which abducts two of every species from a planet, is a reference to Noah's Ark.
  • Terraform: According to the Stones of Life (though not in practice), they seed planets across the galaxy with life.

    Knight Empires 
"Knights are noble warriors that fight for right, not for personal gain. Peace will come to the galaxy only when evil has been vanquished."

Gruff but honorable fighters who try to keep the peace in the galaxy.

  • The Cavalry: Their Summon Mini-U ability adds a smaller, weaker duplicate of your ship to your fleet for a period of time.
  • For Great Justice: See the quote directly above.
  • Good Counterpart: To the Warriors. The Knights appear as Warriors when encountered on a different save file, but they aren't as antagonistic. Their description even paints them as this, using their military strength to eliminate the evils of the universe, as opposed to the Warriors fighting off anybody that they perceive as a threat.
  • Hufflepuff House: One of the ten major archetypes available to the player, but never spawns for the AI for some reason. If the player encounters one of their Knight species from another save, they will appear as Warriors instead. The only way you can tell if they are a Knight instead of a Warrior is by their different background and them not being as initially hostile.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: "Knights are noble warriors that fight for right, not for personal gain."

    Scientist Empires 
"Scientists are logical and calculating. The galaxy exists to be studied and understood."

Cold and often vain aliens who seek to find out all mysteries in existence.

  • Admiring the Abomination: Unlike the other archetypes, who regard the Grox with fear and/or malice, Scientists merely consider them "an experiment that has not yet run its course".
  • Everyone Has Standards: Actually use their Gravitation Wave on a planet, and they'll declare war on you just like everyone else in the vicinity.
  • Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions: Downplayed, surprisingly enough. They take no position on the existence of Spode or other deities, instead merely seeing their existence as unproven and therefore not worthy of consideration on a government or species level.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Their superpower will, at the cost of violating the galactic code, completely take an entire enemy planet out of the picture. However, the Zealots' superpower does the exact same thing, only instead of reducing it to a pile of rubble, it instead converts it into one of your planets while leaving all infrastructure intact.note 
  • Science Hero: How they see themselves, unsurprisingly.
    "Was it prophets and mystics who gave us electricity, antibiotics, modern signatation, aerospace science, and digital timepieces? No. It was those who proceeded rationally, building on the work of others to create new wonders."
  • Uplifted Animal: Some of their Fetch Quests are for the purpose of doing this.
  • World-Wrecking Wave: Their Gravitation Wave superpower destroys all structures and intelligent life on a planet's surface. Using this tool breaks the Galactic Code, so do it out of sight.

    Shaman Empires 
"Shamans understand that all life shares a common bond. The entire galaxy exists within us all."

Aloof but benevolent aliens who study magic and seek to bring peace to the galaxy.

  • Boring Return Journey: The purpose of their Return Ticket superpower, which will Fast Travel the player back to their homeworld from anywhere in the galaxy.
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus: While they are primarily based off of animist religions, they do worship a being known as the God That Will Come. Interestingly, the Zealots also believe in this being but to them he is essentially the Antichrist.
  • Foil: To the Zealots. While Zealots want to unite the galaxy under Spode by any means necessary, Shamans are pacifists who just want to understand the universe on a spiritual level.
  • Reluctant Warrior: They'll declare war on you in retaliation for attacking them or breaking the Galactic Code, but very reluctantly.
  • Science Is Useless: Downplayed. They know science is useful (as their fleets of FTL starships can attest) but they find it insufficient for understanding the meaning of life.
    "Science is all well and good, but all it does is tell us about the universe. It tells us how this atom bounces off of that atom, and how to measure this effect or that, and how heat moves around."
    "Science doesn't tell you any of the things you really want to know, like what the point of your whole existence might be, or whether some part of you will survive after death, or the meaning of good and evil. Science doesn't provide meaning."
    "Science tells us about the universe, but it doesn't tell us how to transcend the universe."
  • The Xenophile: They just can't get enough of the universe and its wonders.

    Trader Empires 
"Traders are in it for the profit. Their only allegiance is to the almighty Sporebuck."

Jolly though greedy aliens who focus on trade and treasure hunting.

  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Implied. They'll sometimes talk about the Grox positively, but the Tablets of Prosperity reveal that this is not genuine and that they are the ultimate enemy to their beliefs. They don't take it very well when the Grox do attack them, implying that their buttkissing is specifically an attempt to stop them from going after them.
  • For Happiness: Their rationale for a trade-based civilization.
    "Consider the simple act of trade. If you believe that possession of an item would increase your happiness, and if my happiness would be increased by selling that item to you for a certain sum, then the trade makes us both happy, and the amount of happiness in the universe is increased."
  • Hidden Depths: They mainly come off as greedy, money loving merchants, but their Tablets of Prosperity state that they're so indulgent in trade because they want to make the universe happier, and trade makes both parties happier.
  • Immediate Self-Contradiction: After completing a mission for them, they may say that they sent you off so they could avoid the political consequences of whatever the mission was. They'll then immediately state it was in the name of the Grox, the villainous empire that everybody else sees as a violent force that must be stopped.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: They are greedy and sneaky, but their politeness is not totally insincere. Plus, their end goal is to make everyone happy.
  • Professional Butt-Kisser: They constantly flatter the player, hoping they'll spend more money in their boutique. They're also one of the only empires to talk positively about the Grox, and it's heavily implied they're only doing so because they want the Grox to spare them.
  • Proud Merchant Race: They've built their civilization around selling stuff to their neighbors.

    Wanderer Empires 
"Wanderers want to sample a little bit of everything. The galaxy is vast and they want to experience it all."

Relaxed aliens who simply want to explore the wide galaxy around them.

  • Bold Explorer: Wanderers fully embrace exploring the galaxy and love to see new things. This is their only real defining trait other than being friendly.
  • The Generic Guy: This archetype is for players who start a game in the Space Stage without bothering with the others. It has no superpower or philosophy and does not spawn for the AI.
  • Hufflepuff House: Like with Knights, they are a major archetype but you won't normally encounter the AI using them. If the player encounters their species that is a Wanderer, they will have the Diplomat philosophy. The only differences will be their background and their voice will be the same as your homeworld. However, this is justified, as the Wanderer empire only appears for a player that skipped all the way to Space Stage.
  • Master of None: They're blank slates that have no superpower and no benefits from previous stages, making them strictly inferior to every other archetype on the list.
  • Nice Guy: They are very laid-back and love to meet new races.
  • Out Side Context Problem: Whether they qualify as a "problem" really depends on how you interact with them, but the subtle implication gathered from across the info on them is that they arrived here from another galaxy, likely as an explanation of sorts for their showing up out of nowhere and literal lack of a past.
  • invokedSelf-Imposed Challenge: This is all they really have to offer as an archetype, as they have no superpower and exist solely for players who skipped the earlier stages.
  • Used Future: The background in the communications panel is a simple grey spaceship bulkhead.

    Warrior Empires 
"Warriors take what they want and never ask for permission. The galaxy is a prize to be claimed by the strongest."

Arrogant and brutal aliens who have based their whole culture around war and combat.

  • Everyone Has Standards: In addition to adhering to the Galactic Code, they also make a point out of not waging war for the sake of war, which would be counterproductive to their goal of survival.
    "We do not indulge in casual violence. We do not engage in a War Against All. We fight in defense of our own security, and otherwise choose our targets with care."
    "If you are no threat to us, you have little to fear, unless you are weak — in that case, we may destroy you in order to prevent our rivals from profiting by your destruction."
  • Graceful Loser: Conquer one of their systems, and they'll commend you on your victory.
    "You have learned well, warrior!"
  • Hypocrite: They'll happily sell you Planet Busters at half-price, but fly into a rage if you actually use them.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Played completely straight. Warriors fall somewhere in between Klingons and classical pirates in terms of personality.
  • The Social Darwinist: They see the universe as unrelentingly hostile, and have shaped their civilization accordingly.
    "The universe seethes with violence. It came into being in a vast explosion. Giant black holes lurk at the center of galaxies. Supernovas, gamma ray bursters, and pulsars destroy all life within reach."
    "Violence is not an unnatural thing. It is the normal state of being."
  • Summon Bigger Fish: Their Raider Rally superpower unleashes a fleet of Space Pirates on the targeted planet, throwing the local garrison into chaos.
  • You No Take Candle: They often speak like this, leaving out filler words and addressing the player as plainly as possible.

    Zealot Empires 
"Zealots are certain that their beliefs are the only truth that matters. Those who do not feel the same way are not worthy to exist in this galaxy."

Infamously violent and self-righteous aliens obsessed with a deity called Spode, seeking out the destruction of those who refuse to convert.

  • Affably Evil: Get on their good side and they are surprisingly helpful and loyal, even if you never join them in their religion.
  • Arch-Enemy: The two greatest enemies of Spode are the Grox and something called "The False God Who Will Come". The nature of the latter is never revealed, but it apparently has a following across the galaxy.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Their Fanatical Frenzy superpower converts everyone on a planet and annexes them into their empire. Understandably, this breaks the Galactic Code.
  • Church Militant: Exaggerated. They'll declare war on you faster than even the Warriors, even if you are are a Zealot yourself.
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus: Spode, the deity worshipped by all Zealots.
  • Easy Road to Hell: Implied; they believe that followers of Spode are the only ones who get a "good" afterlife, hence their desire to convert everyone in the galaxy.
    "If false doctrine causes a follower to doubt, that person's eternal happiness is in jeopardy! In order to free ourselves from doubt, we strive to eliminate all who reject Spode's Word."
  • Everyone Has Standards: They value the Galactic Code as highly as any other empire, even though their superpower technically breaks it.
  • Foil: To the Shamans. While Shamans are pacifists who just want to understand the universe on a spiritual level, Zealots want to unite the galaxy under Spode by any means necessary.
  • Scary Dogmatic Aliens: And how. If you're not a servant of Spode, or at least an ally of theirs, they consider you an enemy at worst and a future target at best.

    The Grox (SPOILERS) 
Beware the Grox. They don't understand relationships.
The Grox are a race of Cyborgs who dominate the star systems around the Galactic Core. They are relentlessly hostile to organic life forms and will periodically raid your allies' colonies and homeworlds.
  • Absolute Xenophobe: The Grox hate anyone that's not a Cyborg. You can ally with them, but it takes a very long time.
  • Action Bomb: The Mites, as seen in "Infestation".
  • Always Chaotic Evil: Every member of the Grox are united by their universal hatred for all organic life and revel in the chaos, destruction, and misery they cause.
  • Big Bad: The Grox are this in the base game.
  • Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: The rest of the galaxy is pretty much united in this belief, considering the Grox a blasphemy to the very concept of life. It's downplayed in practice, though, because the Grox are not a Hive Mind and have at least as much personality as the other empires.
  • Danger in the Galactic Core: The Grox dominate the region surrounding the core, with thousands of inhabited star systems and countless patrol ships. Straying too deep into their space, even if you're not at war, will get you shot down in short order.
  • The Dreaded: If there's one thing that unites the Spore galaxy, it's fear of the Grox.
  • Drone of Dread: Their "anthem", which can be heard if you hover over one of their colonies.
  • Enemy to All Living Things: The Grox don't just hate life, but they're also outright allergic to it can only survive on uninhabitable planets. Terraforming their worlds will actually kill them!
  • Expy: Of the Borg Collective from Star Trek, down to being called the 'Grob' in the game code. In practice, though, the Grox are quite different: they are not a Hive Mind, they exterminate species rather than assimilate them, and their ships look like conventional Standard Alien Spaceships rather than the Ominous Cubes of the Borg.
  • Forever War: A war between the Grox and the player will take a long time, since the Grox have thousands of planets to clear out and you can't bribe them into calling it off.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: The Grox are this in the official Galactic Adventures mission "Infestation", since, while they don't affect the events of that adventure directly, they are the ones who sent the Dronox to attack the planet in question.
  • Hate Sink: Even the Zealots have at least some redeeming qualities; the Grox on the other hand are completely heartless and megalomaniacal beings who truly are pure evil. They are this in-universe too, even the normally calm Shamans, Traders, and Ecologists utterly despise the Grox. The Diplomats and Scientists are the only philosophies who don't actively hate the Grox (the former believes they could be a powerful ally and the latter almost admires them for their powerful technological advancements), though both still agree the Grox are horrible villains that need to be destroyed and not befriended.
  • Henchmen Race: The Dronox, Insectrox, and Mites, as seen in "Infestation". It's not clear whether these are full Mecha-Mooks or more Cyborgs.
  • Hostile Terraforming: Not in normal gameplay, but one Galactic Adventures mission, "Infestation", has the player fight and destroy an 'Infestation Pod' sent by the Grox to corrupt a planet for colonization.
    • Inverted in the space stage, as terraforming a planet to a habitable state (as in, habitable for anyone else) is a surefire way to boot the Grox off a planet.
  • Immune to Mind Control: The Grox are immune to the Bards' Soothing Song superpower.
  • Informed Attribute: They're consistently referred to as "machines", but in reality they're Cyborgs.
  • Killer Rabbit: They kind of look like humanoid hamsters, plus some elf ears and Borg implants.
  • Mechanically Unusual Class: They have a Unique Archetype unto themselves which is inaccessible to the player. When asked about it, they just insult you and refuse to indulge your curiosity.
  • Nightmare Fetishist: Breaking the Galactic Code within their earshot will actually improve their attitude toward you. Unless you do it to them, of course.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: They'll sometimes demand cash from you, not because they care about Sporebucks, but because they know you do.
  • Purple Is Powerful: The Grox use indigo as their signature color, which is otherwise not available to the AI.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: They give an epic one to the player when asked about themselves. Yeah, they don't have much respect for non-machine life.
    "What foolish mortal deigns to seek countenance with the all-powerful and most extraordinary Grox? How dare you disgrace us with your meager and lackluster presence? We care not to breathe the same air that you have poisoned with your noxious aura.
    After I spend some time berating you, the expectation will be that you begin your exodus out of our system post haste. I feel the need to cleanse my very eyeball after having soiled my retina with the ghastly vision that is your form. Be gone oh foul and unsightly trespasser!
    Don't let the gravitational pull of our planet hit you in the backside on your way out!"
  • Robot War: They wage endless war on the organic races of the galaxy, though actual attacks are infrequent and their targets are seemingly chosen at random.
  • Space-Filling Empire: The Grox Empire spans the entire galactic core, which is about 2,400 systems and more than 5,000 planets.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": Their species' Sporepedia entry calls them "The Grox" rather than simply "Grox".
  • Sympathy for the Devil: Averted. Virtually every sapient species hates the Grox and even the ones that admire the achievements of the Grox (like some Scientist and Diplomat empires) still agree that the Grox are evil monsters that should not be empathized with. Furthermore, while your empire was curious about them at first during its infancy, they quickly learn that the Grox are a threat, be it from horror stories spread from other empires or them being attacked as well.
  • Technologically Advanced Foe: Their ships and turrets are far more powerful than anything the rest of the galaxy can hope to match. Even the player will only be able to take on one or two of their ships at a time without shields and antimatter missiles.
  • Time Abyss: If the appearance of Grox ships in the Creature Stage is any indication, they've been spacefaring for billions of years.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: The Traders are the only empire to talk positively about the Grox, but this won't stop them from raiding a Trader empire.
  • Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The rest of the entire game is generally cartoonish life simulator fun, even if it naturally gets dark as a result of being a carnivore/warrior/whatever. The Grox, however, have no redeeming qualities and waste no effort trying to appeal to anyone else other than themselves. Not even warrior or zealot empires are as vile as the Grox!

    Steve (SPOILERS) 
A strange little guy who lives in the Galactic Core. Meeting him is the closest thing there is to an official end goal to the Space Phase.
  • Nice Guy: A friendly alien who joyously congratulates you on your accomplishments and gives you a powerful artifact as a reward.
  • Riddle for the Ages: The only thing we know for sure about him is he isn’t a living ufo as a statue bearing his likeness in Galactic Adventures shows. Otherwise Steve is a huge enigma: who is he really? What is he? Why is he waiting for you in the Galactic Core? How did he get there in the first place? How does he have access to the powerful Staff of Life? Likely done on purpose as a joke, but many fans still make serious theories about him to this day.
  • Shout-Out: The spaceship he drives is a slightly modified version of the ufo on the box art of SimCity 2000.
  • Sufficiently Advanced Alien: Implied. At first you think you are talking to a powerful deity... Then a dinky little ufo comes out and gives you a gadget that can make the most inhospitable planets into paradises.

Galactic Adventures

    Spoffits 
A species of simple sheep-like aliens that appear in all of Maxis' adventures.
  • Easter Egg: You will find a lone Spoffit in a hidden area in in all of the Maxis-made adventures. Get close to it and the music will change to the "Blue Grass" track.

    Clark and Stanley 
Two naively optimistic aliens who are the stars of their own series of adventures where they always die horribly. Maxis made their initial appearances and then the fan base ran with it, there are literally hundreds of adventures made starring this ill-fated pair. Their species, which vaguely resembles a bipedal turtle, has not been given an official name but is commonly called "Dweeble" by fans.

Other

    Spode 
The deity worshipped by the Zealots.
  • God Is Good: He still saves the player from the Black Clawed Zealots, even if your kind does not worship him or worships The God That Will Come.
  • He Who Must Not Be Seen: Makes sense as he is supposedly an omnipotent deity. The only aspect of him described is that he has tentacles.
  • Real After All: In the base game the Zealots are the only beings who think Spode exists. The Zealot mission in Galactic Adventures reveals that Spode not only exists but can even interact with the physical word after he assists the player with a Deus ex Machina.

    The God That Will Come 
The Antichrist of the Zealots' religion and a patron god of various other races, most notably Shamans.
  • Ambiguous Situation: Is the God That Will Come good or evil? It is easy to assume the former given the notoriously genocidal Zealots hate him and the extremely wise and gentle Shamans worship him, but the game leaves this up in the air. Galactic Adventures keeps it ambiguous.

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