(edit: combined appearance, senses, and bodily functions into physiology, added sleep and communication, modified game effects slightly and clarified pronunciation.)
(edit: extended production penalty to mining and modified culture section slightly)
(edit: removed sleep segment from physiology and modified racial attributes to suit this)
Genus Hominum (JAY-noos OH-mee-noom)
Genus Hominum, is the one remaining faction of a once populous civilization. They are the survivors of the two great cataclysms of their race, and the cause of one...
Physiology:
Each member of Genus Hominum (which is referred to individually as an Homo Hominis (OH-mo OH-mee-nees)) is a bipedal creature with four primary limbs. Approximately half it’s height is taken up by its strong legs, while most of the other consists of a flexible torso, atop which lies the approximately ellipsoidal head, supported by a short neck.
The head features two round, glassy, eyes placed symmetrically about the vertical axis approximately half-way up the head, facing forward and entrenched deeply into the head. Directly on the axis of symmetry slightly below the eyes, protrudes a somewhat triangular nose with two separate orifices on the bottom for the intake of air. Beneath this organ, near the bottom of the head, lies a mainly horizontal mouth which varies in length and shape depending on the mood of the creature. Inside this mouth is a strong tongue, used for manipulating objects in it’s mouth, and 32 teeth, used for crushing its food. On each side of the head, slightly less than half-way up, protrude two more sensory organs, ears, each with a vaguely semi-circular appearance. These ears are very flexible, but an Homo Hominis is unable to control their movement directly. They also tend to stay immobile relative to the head, despite their flexibility.
In addition to the basic form of the head, thick hair grows on most parts of it. This hair is usually much longer at the back and top than on the front, bottom, and sides, and on females is almost always completely limited to the back and top, but nearly all members of Genus Hominum selectively remove hair from all parts of the head to produce a desired visual effect. As such, the natural length of the hair is unknown.
On the side of the torso are two arms, used primarily for the manipulation of objects. These are attached to the top of the torso at the sides via ball-and-socket joint. The arms are separated into to main parts by a simple hinge joint, and end in a strong manipulative hand with five individual fingers on each. The innermost of these fingers has much greater mobility that the other four and allows the grasping of many objects when it is used in combination with one (or more) of the other four.
The legs of an Homo Hominis are similar to its arms in structure, but the toes at end are much shorter than the fingers at the end of the arm and each toe is functionally identical to the others. This eliminates the use of the legs for object manipulation, but the flat feet at the end allow it to use it’s legs for rapid changes in movement, with the toes acting to provide balance.
An Homo Hominis has a total of five different senses, the organs of each located almost exclusively on the head. However, one of the senses they possess is a tactile sense which is able to detect physical attributes of objects, as well as their temperature. This ability operates in every outer area of the body. They also have the ability to detect the frequency and intensity of photons (within a certain range of frequencies) using the eyes embedded in the head. The nose beneath it collects samples of particles in the air and is able to identify certain properties of these samples. Similarly, the tongue is also able to perform this function with larger objects, though not to the same level of detail. The ears on the side of the head can detect vibrations in the air within a great range of frequencies and amplitudes and are able to distinguish between them.
The Homo Hominis inhales oxygen and exhales carbon dioxide. It breathes through its mouth as well as both orifices of the nose. The air is processes by two large lungs on either side that take up a large portion of the torso. The left lung is slightly smaller that the right lung, because the primary organ of the circulatory system is also located on the left side of the upper torso. It communicates by causing vibrations in the area directly below their head and directing these vibrations through the mouth, which are detected and processed by the ears. It is an omnivore, but little is known about its defecation organs, because it considers them to be “private” and always keeps them hidden. This is also true of its reproductive organs, which are suspected to be in approximately the same area of the body: near the separation of the legs at the bottom of the torso. Some have theorized that a single organ combines the waste disposal functions and the reproductive functions of the Homo Hominis, but this theory has been largely discredited in zoological circles.
Home Planet:
The original homeworld of the Genus Hominum was terran world in the third orbit of a yellow dwarf. However, they were forced to leave their homeworld and settle on their current homeworld, which they gradually cultivated from a swamp world to a terran world. Their name for their current homeworld is Terra Denuo.
History:
Long ago, the Genus Hominum were a populous race. They were dominated by a great civilization whose capital was the great city Roma. But this great Roman civilization was surrounded by barbarian tribes and, seeing it’s own superiority, became lazy, ceasing the great progress they had made. They saw only what they had surpassed, not what they had yet to achieve. They had a military of great might, but, as with everything else, they became lazy and wasteful with it. Great warriors fought to the death in coliseum battles, and the cities defense was constantly loose…. They had ordered a recipe for destruction, and they were about to get served. {I like that line
} The barbarian tribes around them saw their opportunity to destroy their envied foe, and thus, with a great assault, the powerful city of Roma fell to the barbarians, plunging the planet into what is only known in their history as “The Dark Ages”…But not all that the Romans had accomplished was lost to the darkness. A group of Roman scientists survived the barbarian invasion and stole away to safety. They continued developing their technology for generations, with a renewed fervor and watchfulness, unknown to the barbarians. As civilization gradually recovered, the Roman scientists were forced to delve deep into the mountains to avoid detection. At long last, the technology level of the outside civilization surpassed that even of the ancient city Roma. But the society retained its barbarian roots…
The Roman scientists, well versed in their history, deemed the new civilization unworthy of its presence, but with the ever expanding barbarians always eager to exert their influence on as much of the world as possible, they knew it was only a matter of time before they would be discovered, and with this in mind, they made preparations for the inevitable final retreat from this barbaric planet: The retreat into space.
They had always known that they could not stay on their planet forever, for the barbarians were ever developing and expanding, and at last, a means of escape was within their grasp. A great scientist and the father of many children gained the right to yet another child* when he discovered the secret of hyperspace travel along a series of pathways among the stars which he called the "Siderius Semita". At last they began their final preparations to rid themselves once and for all of the wretched barbarians that swarmed over their world. But simply leaving them was not enough. Their hatred ran deep, and they would not be satisfied by a mere silent parting. Through methods that even now remain unknown, they prepared the destruction of their planet so fully using only the resources of their enemies, that it was engulfed in flames before they left their solar system.
They settled on a distant swamp world, almost uninhabitable. They were forced to turn their spacecraft into shelters, and turn their attention towards cultivating the land, rather than on advancing their technology. With great time and effort lasting centuries, the descendants of the Roman scientists turned the swampy wastelands of their new home into a glorious reproduction of their homeworld. And thus it became the new Genus Hominum homeworld, Terra Denuo.
*see culture section for explanation
Culture:
Ever since the barbarians destroyed their great empire, they have always placed a great emphasis on maintaining their culture and advancing their technological knowledge. Because of their fear of the barbarians, they developed an extensive spy network that spread throughout the world, disguising their high-powered spy airships as clouds. They have always vowed to hold on to their culture, and as such, place great emphasis on beauty in their architecture. Thus, their society was comprised of many scientists, several spies, a handful of artists/architects/laborers, and a bare minimum of farmers, ruled by a single emperor. The combining of artists and laborers into one class of people prevented the "class warfare" we have generally seen in history, because the basic laborers were skilled and well-respected. Their society was so small that they had no use for currency, rather the emperor had total control over resource production and distribution.
The nature of their society required that it was kept small, so early on, one of the emperors put drastic measures in place to ensure this end. If anyone had a child that was not permitted to, the child and both its parents would be killed. Permission to reproduce was a reward for accomplishing a great feat of espionage, research, or architecture. Marriage after a certain age was a necessity to ensure that those deserving of reproduction would have someone to mate with. Infringements of this law gradually decreased over time and eventually stopped altogether. As such, the society quickly became extremely disciplined and devoted to their work.
Years of space travel did little to change their society; they had always been self contained and independent. They sailed peacefully through the stars to their final destination. It was here that their society underwent its greatest changes. The ban on reproduction was at last lifted, and their population grew quickly, though not without retaining the great discipline they had acquired over the centuries. As their population grew, currency became necessary, but they never strayed far from the centrally planned economy. Every person, including government officials is given equal pay, thus increasing the "communal" feeling of this race. They abhor other less disciplined races for their selfish economies and are fairly unskilled in making trade agreements. Always, they remained wary of others, cultivating their espionage, even when their technology fell into ruin, and always, they maintained a strong emphasis on beauty in architecture that served still to bring respect to the working class.
Racial Attributes:
As a result of changing their focus from research to agriculture for so long, the Genus Hominum have lost most of their technological capabilities and talent. Thus, their researching ability is average, but they have very bonus farming. They have always been wary of others, even their own species. As a result they are highly xenophobic. The effects of this include:
Very tight spy defense
Very bonus spying offense (they like to keep an eye on what others are doing)
Poor diplomacy (citizens don’t like you making deals with other empires)
Anti-expansionist (citizens don’t like you making new colonies)
Elitist (citizens like you [and other empires] capturing and enslaving colonies)
Stealth and detection equipment on ships is bonus
Allegiance to their own empire is very bonus, allegiance to enemy empires is very malus.
Citizens don't mind you glassing planets at all. In fact, if they hate an enemy enough, they might actually really like it.
High discipline=good ground combat. Works well with the "expansion mainly through conquering" thing
All members of their race are considered equal, because you're pretty much either an artisan, a scientist, a spy or a farmer (or in later years, an astronaut), all of which are obviously very important. There is no lower class except aliens (which are SUPER lower class). Because of this, citizens like it when you outright enslave a captured planet rather than making it a full fledged member of your empire. This also gives an economic bonus (or whatever we end up calling a 5th resource income bonus) because all members of society are working at peak.
They also place an emphasis on beauty in architecture. As a result, their production is decreased heavily, but morale/happiness/whatever gets a large bonus, even for slave races within their empire (these races don't get the production penalty).
Mining is also significantly decreased due to the fact that it is looked down upon culturally. There is no opportunity to create beauty as there is in production, so mining is generally overlooked and understaffed. Almost nobody devotes their entire life to mining, usually miners only work part time and engage in a more culturally accepted occupation for thst of their time.
The anti-expansionist tendencies of the civilians lead this race to more of a turtle style of play, but expanding a little bit isn't a problem because of their high allegiance. And, of course, they love enslaving people, so expansion through the capture of planets is usually a good option.
Bonus Effects:
They speak Latin (If you haven’t figured it out by now, bonus is Latin for good . Go back and read the gameplay section; it should make more sense now
)Ship design should reflect this ancient emphasis on beauty, perhaps resembling ancient Roman architecture and/or artwork.
Things I Especially Like About This Race:
They are Human (That’s right! Surprised?
) but not boring. They’re entirely different from the way we’ve come to expect humans, and I think that’s very good to have in a game like this.They’re good at spying. (I like spying)
Opinions? Thoughts? Did I miss anything important? Is the anatomy/Latin pronunciation accurate? On that note, did I waste too much time on appearance when I could have just written: “Look in the mirror, stupid?”
Note: I REALLY don't like the idea of humans being descended from the Orions, but if that needs to be the case, then it's still reasonable to say that they settled on Earth, developed through the aforementioned history, and when they "achieved starflight, and encountered another race", it occurred after they flew to the swamp world and cultivated it into a terran world.
There are a couple of things I'm not keen on, I just can't see humans having a truly equal society (and especially not the Romans), the lack of colonialism also bothers me since historical human empires did behave that way. But you've already said your against those things. 
I would prefer all the races to have as many unique physiological attributes as possible, including humans, so I think we should totally ditch most of the things we feel are commonplace when designing aliens, so that we can make humans more unique!