The Teuthidoids were the first intelligent life encountered by humanity. They hail from the ocean of water that lies beneath the ice sheets that cover Jupiter’s moon, Europa. A highly evolved and intelligent species of squid (to use a Terran analog to describe them), they are slightly more advanced that humans in some areas of technology, but remain hesitant to share most of their technological expertise in all areas except hydroponics. This attitude stems from a disappointment at humanity’s recent global war, in which the Teuthidoids saw certain technologies used for destructive purposes – technologies that they had helped to develop with the American and Russian governments with the hope of abating the resource crises that ravaged Earth in the early 21st century.
First Contact
First contact with the Tuethidoids was a direct result of the 1999 joint USA/Russian mission to the Jovian system. However, the United States and Russian governments at the time felt that the world could not handle the idea that non-human intelligent life was proverbially in their own back yard, and covered up the discovery, swearing the astronauts to silence and hiding the records in buried vaults on the moon. The Teuthidoids agreed with their decision, having seen enough of human society through radio signals and covert studies to know that humanity was a panicky, instinctive civilization that did not take kindly to sudden change.
Biology
The Tuethidoids are carbon-based life forms, with the same organic chemistry as Earth-originating life forms (extremophiles aside). For the most part, the biology of all living things on Europa resembles that of standard terran lifeforms, with the key exception being that the lowest rung on the food chain is not chlorophyll based plant energy, but instead chemical energy in the form of deep-sea vents similar to those found at the bottom of Earth’s oceans. This has led to some speculation that life on Europa might have actually originated on Earth, or vice-versa.