Story Idea: A Game of Gur’Faflas Hold’em

This is an idea that came to me while I was working on the SciFi Ideas Alien Species Generator. I added a basic description of the Gur’Faflon species into the generator, but I thought the idea deserved looking at in greater detail.

The Players

This is a story about alien invasion, galactic politics, and high-stakes gambling. It involves three species; Humanity, the Shlizozi, and the powerful Gur’Faflons.

The Gur’Faflons

The Gur’Faflons are an ancient civilization. They developed the ability to travel among the stars several millennia before humans could even conceive of such an idea. As one of the first intelligent species to evolve in our galaxy, the Gur’Faflons consider themselves to be the highest form of life, and they are not entirely incorrect in this assumption. They are giants, both in stature and in their technological abilities, and they finished charting the galaxy in its entirety over hundred thousand years ago. In their arrogance, they have also claimed most of the galaxy as their own, dividing it among themselves. So many thousands of star systems belong to the Gur’Faflons that many go unused and unobserved. They are traded like currency and wagered in careless games of chance.

Gambling is a national pass-time for the Gr’Faflons, and it has great significance in their culture. The Gur’Faflon home-world – Gur’Faflas Prime – is ruled by the mighty King Gwoftar, who won it in a bet. The King owns most of the Milky Way Galaxy and has invested in part ownership of several other galaxies too.

The Shlizozi

The Shlizozi are an advanced race who serve as middle-men and bureaucrats for King Gwoftar. The galactic overlord owns their home-world and all members of their species. Due to their high intelligence, he entrusts them with the minutia of administering his huge estate. One of the Shlizozi’s outer colonies is owned by Gwoftar’s son, Dulgut Gwoft.

The Story

Although humanity doesn’t know it at the beginning of the story, Earth and its star system happen to fall under the domain of the almighty Gr’Faflons. Earth has little value to these giants, and they haven’t bothered to visit it in thousands of years. However, when the mighty King Gwoftar gives the solar system, along with several hundred other systems, to his son as a birthday gift, humanity begins to receive unwanted attention.

King Gwoftar’s son, Dulgut Gwof, is keen to impress his father and their fellow galactic overlords by making as much money out of his new territory as he can. Taking a leaf from his father’s book, he appoints a team of Shlizozi to survey this undeveloped corner of the galaxy and begin extracting whatever resources they can. Hearing that there may be semi-intelligent life-forms on Earth, the Shlizozi decide to begin there.

All of this comes as a bit of a shock to the people of Earth, who knew nothing of life beyond their own insignificant world. When the Shlizozi survey team arrives and begins making demands, taking measurements and scooping up resources, there is little they can do to stop them. Human technology is desperately inferior, and they have no alternative but to play along.

Of course, if science fiction has taught us anything, it’s that humans don’t give up easily, and it isn’t long before we manage to outwit the invading alien middle-men and capture their leaders (don’t ask how; I haven’t figured that out yet).

Through an interrogation of the captive Shlizozi, we learn about the Gur’Faflons, their politics, and their penchant for games of chance. It is realized that if we challenge Dulgut Gwoft to one of these games, with the future ownership of Earth as the stake, he will be honor bound to accept.

Using a Shlizozi spaceship, representatives of Earth go in search of Dulgut Gwof. They find him on one of the galaxy’s most prestigious casino planets and make the challenge. One of Earth’s most successful poker players has been selected for the face-off, but is he up to the challenge? If by some stroke of luck he is able to beat Gwoft at his own game, will this hardened gambler quit while he’s ahead, or will he smell opportunity in the wind?