The Fading Stars, Traveller rpg setting

Geonee, Human Minor Race

The Geonee are a Minor Human Race, famed for their claim to be the Ancients. While this claim is generally not accepted, they do have one of the oldest human interstellar cultures in Charted Space, behind only the Suerrat and Vilani, and with some of the highest technology. They are a short, stocky, and very muscular race. Their average height is about 1.5 m and their average weight is about 65 kg. Humans have a conventional carbon-water based biochemistry. Humans use a conventional respiration cycle consisting of Oxygen-nitrogen inhalant and Carbon dioxide exhalant.

They  were originally thought to be a Major Race, since they had jump drive when first encountered by the Vilani some 10,000 years ago (in fact, they had built their first jump drive several years before the Vilani completed theirs). However, it was later determined that their development of jump drive was based on a recovered Ancient starship, rather than independent research. This revelation has colored interstellar opinion of Geonee achievement ever since, and they are generally not regarded as being of major race status.

Despite the archeological evidence, the Geonee dispute their current classification and hold the (unshared) view that they are of Major Race standing. In fact, they believe themselves to be the Ancients, and therefore were using their own vessel to regain spaceflight. There are three reasons for this. First, the Geonee had one of the highest tech levels of all the races discovered by the Vilani. Second, Geonee legends and "racial memories" tell of a time when they travelled among the stars, until a great war confined them to their homeworld. Third, the Geonee Cultural Region contains some of the most extensive sets of Ancients ruins known, including facilities that were obviously set up for humans. The word "Geonee" means "old ones," and is itself a very old term for the inhabitants of the Region.

The Geonee are part of the Third Imperium and maintain a technological level of expertise between TL–10 and TL–14. Some Geonee lead researchers have even begun to make breakthroughs classified as TL–15. Geonee merchants and traders are well known throughout the Third Imperium and beyond.