Tenctonese

Tenctonese

Newcomers
Michele Scarabelli and Eric Pierpoint as Susan and George Francisco, the franchise's two main Tenctonese characters.
Attributes
Home world	Tencton
Official religion	Celinism, among others

The Tenctonese, also known as Newcomers, are the main fictional humanoid species in the Alien Nation franchise, including the 1988 film, the subsequent television series, and spinoff media. They are from the planet Tencton, though references to numerous slave colonies throughout the series and telemovies indicate that they are widespread beyond their own planet. They are easily distinguished from humans by their hairless, spotted heads and lack of external ears. According to the show, more than a quarter of a million Tenctonese reside on Earth in the United States, mostly in the Los Angeles area.

In their slave society, Tenctonese are taken from their parents as children at the age of ten and their tasks are allotted to them. Some of these children are chosen to be "Kleezantsun" or Overseers and are specially conditioned. There are several levels of Overseers, from lowly civilian slave group leaders in charge of the procurement and transport of slaves, to commanders of military vessels, with the highest-ranking Tenctonese seen being a Fleet Commander with subordinate commanders, addressed as "Excellency." The Overseers are now a new organized crime element in Los Angeles, rivalling the Mafia or the Yakusa. Whether there is a master race to the Tenctonese, or if a small segment of the Tenctonese themselves rule the slaves under them, has never been made exactly clear, although it has been stated that they are a genetically engineered race designed for any work environment.

On October 19, 1990, a spacecraft from the planet Tencton crash-landed in California's Mojave Desert just outside Los Angeles. The six-mile-long slave ship Gruza was transporting 250,000 Tenctonese especially bred and genetically engineered for hard labor in any environment. The slave ship's overseers, identified by jagged wrist tattoos, used hallucinogenic nerve gases to induce fear and keep the slaves submissive. They also exploited the slaves' culture and mythology by personifying the roles of Tenctonese "demons." Because of the hallucinogenic gas and the intertwining of their cultural mythology and their condition of slavery, several years would pass before the Tenctonese could even remember there having been anyone on the slave ship to rebel against, or even that there had been attempts by slaves to rebel, such as the Udara faction.