View source for Melnorme

{{RaceBoxWhite|name=Melnorme|image=[[File:MelnormeComm.png]]|caption=Trade Master Greenish|homeworld=Unknown|coordinates=Unknown|organizations=[[Neutral|Unknown]]|ship=[[Trader]]}}

The '''Melnorme''' (pronounced {{IPA|/[[media:Melnorme_as_pronounced_by_Greenish.ogg|'m&#603;ln&#596;&#720;me&#618;]]/}}){{ref|1}}, as far as we know, are a race of traveling traders in information and technology. They appear as several orange globs piled on top of each other, with a large smile and a single eye.

==Mael-Num Ancestors==
The similarity in name between "Melnorme" and "[[Mael-Num]]", combined with the fact that the Mael-Num are described as one-eyed creatures by the [[Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah|Kohr-Ah]], may lead to the suspicion that there is a connection between the two races. This suspicion has been confirmed by reliable sources.{{ref|3}} Presumably, the Melnorme would be willing to sell this information along with their full history, psychology, mental powers, their unique physiology, the exact location of homeworlds, and their "potentially ominous" long-term plans.

==Physiology==
Melnorme are highly sensitive to a broad spectrum of colors; their single eye, while incapable of perceiving depth, contains numerous wavelength-sensitive cone cells. 

The bridge of their [[Trader]] ship has a colorful background that changes to fit their mood or activities. Red is for travel, purple is generally assumed to be for trade (if one pays enough credits the Melnorme offer to sell the information about it turning purple{{ref|2}}). A blue bridge signifies a response to an unexpected threat and emotional distress, and also has the effect of permitting the Melnorme Trade Master to see the weapon consoles more clearly.

The Melnorme possess a large amount of knowledge and unique technology, including a device called the [[MetaChron]] that can predict its own destruction. They also claim that they can predict The Captain's arrival using the vibrations of [[Tzo crystal]]s.

==Trade==
The Melnorme are never found in [[HyperSpace]], unless [[The Captain]] calls them or they come offering to rescue him if he runs out of fuel.  A Melnorme [[Trader]] is present at every supergiant star system, like [[Alpha Centauri]] or [[Zeeman]],  although [[The Flagship]] may have to investigate the individual planets to make contact.

The Melnorme culture revolves around exchanges of items, information, and commodities. They believe that giving without receiving is barbaric. While their culture abandoned currency long ago, the Melnorme economy is based entirely on the exchange of items of "intrinsic value", quantified via [[Interstar Credits]]. The Melnorme are particularly interested in obtaining new information about [[Table of bio types|alien life-forms]] and the strange [[Precursor]] [[Rainbow Worlds]], without specifying how they use the data, though it is probably safe to assume that they simply sell it to someone else. They claim that they have "a thousand secret sources in space and time" and that their charge for revealing even one of them would indebt the whole [[Human]] species for centuries.

===Trading with the Melnorme in Star Control II===
:''See also: [[List of Melnorme trade goods]]''

For Sale
* 1 unit of Fuel per 1 [[Interstar Credit]]
* 1 information report for 75 Credits
* 1 technology upgrade for 150 Credits

Will Purchase
* 1 unit of [[Biological Data]] for 2 Credits
* 1 [[Rainbow World]] location for 500 Credits

Other Melnorme Items Known to the Alliance
* [[Probe|Catalog item 2418-B]]: sold to the [[Slylandro]] for data on the lifeforms on [[Source]]
* The [[FunRom]] "Winky's Happy Night": in the possession of the [[Spathi]]

===Trading post locations===
:''See also: [[Starmap]]''

* [[Alpha Centauri]] (155.9 : 099.3)
* Alpha Octantis (157.8 : 666.8)
* Alpha Illuminati (235.1 : 329.1)
* Alpha Apodis (258.2 : 850.7)
* [[Zeeman]] (335.2 : 194.0)
* Alpha Vulpeculae (365.4 : 258.7)
* Alpha Eridani (587.5 : 772.9)
* Beta Arae (933.3 : 093.7)

(list incomplete?)

==Foreign Relations==
The first Melnorme to make contact with The Captain is known as Trade Master [[Greenish]], captain of the [[Trader]] vessel ''Inevitably Successful In All Circumstances.''  From this first encounter, an important relationship is developed from which the [[New Alliance]] gains key technological upgrades and vital intelligence for its guerrilla war.

The [[Slylandro]] purchased their notorious [[Probe]] from the Melnorme, but tweaked the settings and turned it into the scourge of the galaxy.

The Melnorme have an aversion for the [[Druuge]], seeing their prices as "unreasonably low", although they do not mention anything about Druuge slave trading or piracy beyond alluding to "hidden costs" and "secret tariffs". The Druuge likewise detest the Melnorme, arguing instead that their prices are too high, that they "charge fees for common knowledge" and that their rescue service is piracy.

===Known individuals===
*[[Greenish]]
*Ochre

==Fleet==
[[Image:melnorme_captain.png|right|110px|Melnorme Trader captain]] 
While not designed as a warship, the Melnorme [[Trader]] is still capable of defending itself, possessing a weapon system which Greenish claims he had bought from the [[Keel-Verezy]] just one month before his first meeting with The Captain. Its variable power blaster is known as the one thing that can actually absorb an Ur-Quan Fusion Blast and the Confusion Ray is capable of temporarily scrambling a ship's navigation and crippling its special systems.

==Notes and references==
{{note|1}}''The name is apparently derived from the name "[[wikipedia:Mel Tormé|Mel Tormé]]".'' 
:{{IRC1998}}
::<Manta> Melnorme... Mel Torme?
::<Fwiffo> Give Manta a prize!  He's absolutely correct!
{{note|2}}''In the original PC version, this information costs 120,000 Credits. In the 3D0 version this cost was raised to 12,000,000 Credits. Both of these amounts are unreachable in normal game play. Also, there is no response in the Melnorme conversation tree even if the player were to improperly obtain enough Credits and to try purchasing this information.''
{{note|3}}{{IRC1998}}
::<Deep-Reep> who are the mael num, realy?
::<Fwiffo> The mael num are ancestors of the Melnorme

[[Category:Races]]
[[Category:Melnorme| ]]