#vortians

I wanted to make a new commission sheet for a while, so here we go

If you are interested, DM me or send an email to [email protected] and we’ll discuss the details. Payment is through paypal.(tho I’m looking for other options too)

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Have you ever noticed how the universe of Invader Zim has so many fascinating and weird-looking alien species that are seen over the course of the series? Some examples include the Slaughtering Rat People of Blorch, Plookesians, Screwheads, Nhar-Gh’ok, Meekrob, and many more unnamed aliens. They all have a lot of interesting designs and unique characteristics that make them stand out from one another. From the Martians working themselves to death by terraforming their planet into a spaceship to the moronic aliens from the episode “Abudcted” conducting pointless experiments. This universe has no shortage of strange alien species, and likely more that we don’t know about. In the show, the two most recurring species are, of course, the humans and Irkens, respectively. However, the show has another semi-recurring species that occasionally gets brought up. I’m talking about the Vortians, who are probably the third most frequently occurring species, not counting the humans and Irkens that I brought up before. I don’t believe I’ve seen any full-length analyses on the Vortians, so I wanted to take a stab at it myself.

As a quick little recap of the Vortians, they’re an extremely intelligent race of scientists and engineers who were once allies of the Irken Empire. In the first episode of the show, “The Nightmare Begins”, the Almighty Tallest mention planet Vort when they switch Invader Larb’s assigned planet to it after his increased height. Sometime between the episodes “The Nightmare Begins” and “Backseat Driver from Beyond the Stars,” Invader Larb would complete his assignment, and the Irken Empire would turn Vort into its top military research prison. After the Irken Empire conquered Vort, the Vortians had to produce weapons and other technology for the Irken Empire under threat of death. They seldom appear throughout the series, only making a few appearances at a time, but they’re responsible for a lot of the Irken Empire’s technology.

Appearance wise the Vortians have a unique look when compared to the Irkens. The Vortians’ most notable feature is their horn-like appendages, which come in a variety of lengths, and digitigrade legs. Unlike the Irkens, who only have green skin, the Vortians come in greys, muted blues, purple, and even pink. They also have smaller eyes compared to the Irkens and seem to only have eye colors that range from white to red. If Vortian Prisoner 777 having children is any sign, it seems like Vortians can have kids and form families, which is a huge contrast to the Irkens, who do not have any familial bonds. However, whether they use cloning machinery like the Irkens or reproduce traditionally is unknown. Vortians’ diet remains a mystery, as the only food they have appeared to consume on-screen is “vort dogs” from Shloogorgh’s Flavor Monster. This gives off the implication that they could be omnivores or carnivores.

As mentioned earlier, the Vortians manufacture many advanced pieces of technology, a majority of which were built for the Irken Empire both before and after their alliance ended. The Vortians built many important pieces of Irken technology, like the Irkens flagship the Massive, the Megadoomer X-3 Combat Stealth Mech, the Vortian liquid substance for the Santa-suit, and even Minimoose.

Special mention goes to the Irken Flagship, the Massive, as it’s the most impressive Vortian co-created tech. The Massive can blow up entire planets and wipe out enemy space fleets with ease. In fact, the ship is so powerful that in “Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars” it flew through a star when Dib hijacked the ship, and it still came out no worse for the wear.

Now, as for the pure Vortian technology seen in the series, they are the universe’s most comfortable couch, The Resisty’s Ship (Vort ship), and the Vortian ‘Splodey System, in order of appearance. It’s telling that despite the Vortians creating many powerful gadgets and weaponry, the only creation the Irkens hold them in high-regard for is the most comfortable couch in the universe. Granted, the fact that it can make an Irken fall asleep at all must mean it really is comfortable, considering Irkens don’t even need sleep.

One of the most interesting and important lore details about the Vortians has to be their doomed alliance with the Irken Empire. As revealed in the unreleased episode transcript “The Trial” before the main events of the show, the Irken Empire and Vortians were once great allies of each other. The Vortians used to produce powerful technology alongside some Irken scientists for the greater good of the Irken Empire. It’s not entirely clear which side formed the alliance or what the Vortians received in return, if anything, but one could assume that it was (at the time) not having their planet and resources plundered. However, this alliance would collapse when Zim was sent to a Vortian research station to apply his destructive skills to their research department. Zim would end up creating a dangerous, infinite energy-absorbing blob monster that combined with an infinite producing energy source created by the Vortian scientists, which quickly got out of control.

The infinite energy-absorbing blob monster would kill Tallest Miyuki during the chaos and would further rampage Vort. The Irken Empire refused to take accountability for the incident and blamed the Vortians for Tallest Miyuki’s death because it happened on Vortian territory, which destroyed their alliance. Interestingly, the episode “The Trials” transcript clarifies that no one in the Irken Empire knew Zim was responsible for the death of Tallest Miyuki until they looked through his memories. This proves the Irken Empire is so egotistical that they refuse to believe the very idea that an Irken would be responsible for such an incident and didn’t investigate the incident further.

Now, as interesting as the Vortians' failed alliance with the Irken Empire was, it's important to know that they weren't the Irken Empire's only allies. The Irken Empire, for as xenophobic and ruthless as they are, has established alliances with two named species: the Planet Jackers and the Inquisitorians. Episodes like "Hobo 13" suggest that other aliens also align with the Irken Empire (Zim and Skoodge don’t wear disguises there), but for this topic we will only touch upon the Planet Jackers and the Inquisitorians.

Starting with the Planet Jackers, they're very similar to the Irkens, but instead of conquering planets, they just steal planets and throw them into their dying sun. However, they make it clear they like to target inhabited planets because, in their own words, “critters burn good!”. The Irken-Planet Jacker Treaty made it so that the Planet Jackers could only steal planets that weren’t marked for conquest by the Irken Armada. It’s possible that the Irken Empire allied with the Planet Jackers, as the latter’s race is far stronger than the average Irken. The Planet Jackers also possess powerful technology of their own that possibly rivals that of the Irken Empire, so it makes sense why the Irken Empire wouldn’t want to tussle with them.

Regarding the Inquisitorians, they’re a highly intelligent race of researchers and observers. This means they have no ill intentions and only have the goal of documenting the history and development of other planets. They have SON units, which are like the Irken Empire’s own SIR units. SON units collect data on how a planet is developing technologically and can easily pinpoint the planet’s most powerful piece of technology. As the Inquisitorians are not warmongers, it’s possible that their alliance with the Irkens formed from the formers race being both tall and intelligent, which are traits the Irken Empire adores. The Inquisitorians’ research also could reassure the Irken Empire’s pridefulness that their technology is still the best in the universe.

I bring all of this up to say that between the other two aforementioned races that formed alliances with the Irken Empire, it only highlights how the Vortians were in a weird middle spot. They aren’t huge and intimidating like the Planet Jackers, but they are not tall and peaceful like the Inquisitorians, despite being geniuses in their own right. The Vortians were easily more beneficial to the Irken Empire compared to the other two races, as they directly helped them produce a lot of powerful technology. One could assume that because the Vortians weren’t tall nor intimidating, the Irken Empire figured it was easier to throw them under the bus for Tallest Miyuki’s death than if it had been the Planet Jackers. It shows how two-faced and incompetent the Irken Empire really is if they’re willing to let an amazing alliance like that go to complete waste because they didn’t want to take accountability.

However, the Vortians, despite not being strong or intimidating, would prove they can still be quite the thorn in the Irken Empire’s side. As is common with the Irken Empire’s incompetence, having a former ally turned enemy produce your weapons isn’t exactly a wise choice. After being enslaved the Vortians would create flaws in their creations like making the Vortian Splodey System unable to detect bio-signature covered in thick material and making the Megadoomer mech only able to cloak the mech, but not the user and giving it a visible giant power extension cord that always needs to be plugged in.

Going on a tangent here, but with how smart the Vortians are, it makes one wonder how Invader Larb could pass for one of them without being spotted as an Irken. This is just my personal speculation, but I’ve always believed that Invader Larb acted as a fake ambassador of sorts to the Vortians. Y’know, pretending to rekindle the relations of the Irkens and the Vortians since they were once great allies. This could explain why Larb didn’t seem to wear a disguise or anything the few times we saw him on Vort. It’d actually look more suspicious if Larb wore a disguise because the Vortians might’ve caught on that the Irken Empire was about to invade them. It’s possible he could’ve sabotaged all of Vort’s planetary defenses and called the Irken armada to finish the job. Almighty Tallest Purple’s comment gives off the implication that the Vort ships were all likely destroyed in orbital combat, trying and failing to take on the Irken Armada, destroyed during the organic sweep, or likely a mix of both. The singular Vort ship, the Resisty, used to fight the Massive, did little to no damage at all against the Irken flagship, so it’s safe to say that something like this could’ve happened.

Regardless of how the Irken Empire conquered Vort, the aftermath was devastating for the Vortians. Vortians who couldn’t flee their doomed home planet became the Irken Empire’s slaves, and the empire forced them to create weapons. Others who were just as unlucky had their brains harvested by Irken engineers like Skrang to increase their own brain power. The Irken engineers likely did this to Vortians caught tampering with Irken tech and to make an example of other Vortians who had any similar ideas of rebellion. Then you have the lucky ones who escaped their prisons and fled too far-away planets, away from Irken rule. But even that has its own caveat of sadness when you realize these Vortians can never return home to their families, nor do anything about the Irken Empire. Noticeably, the Vortians who escaped never appear in groups and seem to be alone to avoid simultaneous capture. And then you have the brave few like Lard Nar who try to oppose the Irken Empire and fight the good fight. For as good as Lard Nar’s intentions were, it’s clear that he and his team never stood a chance against the Irken Empire, and that was something even he knew was futile.

Well, I think I’ve said everything I can about the Vortians, so thank you if you took time out of your day to read this. Every time I believed I was done writing this analysis I would end up I would realize that there were like a gazillion more things I’d want to talk about, haha. To give you an idea of how long I’ve been working on this project, I started it back around December 2025. Originally, I wanted to write a brief paragraph talking about Invader Larb’s mission on Vort, but that developed into a whole essay on the Vortians. Similarly, to my last analysis on the Irken Empire’s SIR units, I had a similar amount of fun doing research on the Vortians. If you couldn’t already tell, I really love Invader Zim, and researching for this project only made me love this franchise even more. With all that said, I hope this analysis wasn’t too much of a ramble to read, and I hope you all have a good day!

This new transfer from Irk is rather troublesome...

I gave 777 a name, sorry guys.

He's head researcher working on the construction of the Massive. Everyone else is part of the military tech development team.

CANONICALLY NAMED

The Meekrob - Archenemy of the Irkens

- Tenn was assigned to conquer New Meekrob (homeworld)

- Ruled by religion - Worships the Light.

The Planet Jackers.

- Threw worlds into their dying sun to feed it.

- Were nearly destroyed at the hands of the Irken Empire and the Anti-Planet Jacker Alliance.

- Their homeworld was conquered by Invader Brutus.

The Screwheads

- Enslaved by the Irkens with their world turned into a intergalactic shipping hub.

- Conquered by Invader Sklerdi in preparation for Impending Doom 1.

The Vortians

- Former allies of Irk

- Their homeworld was conquered by Invader Larb and turned into a military research prison.

 - Industrial superpower.

- Unofficial leaders of the U.R.C.

The Morphics

- Shapeshifting observers

- Had their world blockaded by the Irken Empire to keep them from wreaking havoc.

The Sknibagsi

- From Skinbaiszus

- Conquered by Invader Splam.

OTHERS

The Iphorians (Spleenk’s race)

- Were rumoured to have been working on some kind of super-soldier/berserker program.

- Their homeworld was conquered by Invader Alexovich.

- Free Iphorians are part of the Iphorian Survivors’ Flotilla.

The Stinking Stunk People

- Native to Oderus Prime

- Conquered by Invader Dooky.

- Local rebel cell known as the Stinking Insurgents.

The Cavouisians

- Conquered by Flobee.

- Known as the Cavious Free Brigade - Was wiped out during Arc 2.

The Free Barsoomian Priesthood

- Conquered by Invaders Gooch, Grapa, Sklud, Skoo (Primary Invader) and Slant among others.

- Only a few members of Parliament and their resources managed to escape before all of Barsoom Space was overwhelmed.

The Oleanans

- Highly advanced and peaceful aquatic lifeforms.

- Conquered by Invader Kim.

- Rebel factions are known as the Oleanan Depth Fighters.

The Wappsy Exodus Fleet

- Conquered by Invader Koot

The Stasqols Techno-Alliance (Alcon’s race)

- A no-armed race of aliens who rely on technology to be their arms with technology dominating every aspect of their society, even piracy.

- Conquered by Invader Krunk.

The Free Whunk Gunnery Battalions

- Military units that were off-world when Larb launched his coup and refused to swear allegiance to the new government.

The MA-1 Uprising

- Composed of surviving Plasticine rebels.

The Squidgillian Long-Armed Revolt.

- Conquered by Invader Larb.

- An individual of this race is imprisoned on Moo-Ping-10.

The Trigorian Frostborn Alliance (Hank’s race)

- Conquered by Invader Poot.

The Megadomers

- Eternally upbeat optimists.

- Conquered by Invader Skutch.

- The Megadomer Uprising.

The Large Nostril People

- Homeworld: Boodie Nen

- Conquered by Invader Slacks…somehow.

- Very stupid race

The Bassi Nael

- Employed by anti-Empire groups as navigators and pilots.

The Brainheads (Ainiac’s race)

- Highly intelligent race

- Conquered by Invader Spleen

- Their homeworld was turned into a military research prison.

The Zillians

- Godzilla-like race.

- Have tamed the indigenous creatures of their homeworld

- Conquered by Invader Sqood.

The Cyfinians.

- Large green cyclops with coral-like mohawks

- Conquered by Invader Stink.

The Freazers

- Gigantic ice-like aliens

- Conquered by Invader Yoogli.

The Coneheads

- Conquered by Invader Yuli.

The Shadrans

- Also known as Shadow Walkers

- Were conquered by Invader Zee

The Limobutians

- Cat-like aliens who like dancing all day.

- Conquered by Invader Zee.

The Puigians

- Conquered by Invader Narti.

The Bavoomians

- Live, ride and die on the wind currents of their homeworld.

- Conquered by Invader Sploodge.

The Forters

- Renowned jumpers

- Conquered by Invader Flurm.

The Woolies

- Large, fur-covered aliens who are great architects.

- Conquered by the Chrichellites and Irkens.

The Darthvegan Guns of Freedom

- Composed of those who didn’t agree with joining Irk.

The Nubulors

- Former ally of Irk

- Their homeworld was conquered by Invader Donda.

The Firimes

- Can command lava flows at will.

- Conquered by Invader Lardnar.

The Truuts

- No-armed, wears a green robe, and covered in a three-eyed helmet - Individual seen on Foodcourtia.

- Enemy of the Khanceods.

The Kroccits

- Mentioned to consume 90% of the universe’s pornography.

- Conquered by Invader Poch (Originally Ped)

The Crabrutians

-  Large, four-legged with triangle-shaped stumps for hands - Seen on Foodcourtia.

- Conquered by Brutus.

The Large Mouthed People

- Homeworld: Jawaius.

- An individual of this race is seen imprisoned in Moo-Ping-10.

-  Conquered by Invader Spleen.

The Darlobs

- Shadowy blob people with glowing yellow eyes and mouth

- Conquered by Invader Zee.

The Pilkes.

- Tall, no-armed creatures with mohawk-like spikes.

- Conquered by Invader Chin.

The Slreen.

- Green, slug-like aliens with four claws.

- Their homeworld was turned into a military research prison.

- Were also famous for making the best slushies in the universe.

- Conquered by Invader Groodge (From For The Glory Of Irk)

The Geolytes

- Horned, blue people

- Described as a merry, Earth-like civilisation.

- Conquered by Invader Larb.

The Anasazeans

- Cacti-like aliens.

- Can go days subsisting on a tiny bit of water.

- Devastated the first wave of Irken forces sent to conquer Anasaze.

The Dawndusians

- Insominacs

- Conquered by Invader Koot

The Thirnovans

- Half-energy beings

- Were originally supposed to be conquered by Invader Tenn after she had conquered Meekrob.

The Brabbiters

- Sentient gas beings and amazing shapeshifters.

- Had their world blockaded to prevent them from wreaking havoc.

The Yoojics

-  Cloud-like people.

- Ruled by a monarchy.

- Under Irken invasion with the help of Yoojic traitors and Invader Yuli - Heavy resistance remains.

The Wiralons

- Turned themselves into machines and are able to turn into electricity.

- Were meant to be conquered by Tenn after she had conquered Meekrob.

The StarriI

- Humble oracles who seek to protect their goddess at all costs.

- Under Irken invasion.

The Lastarians

- Beings full of light

- Allies of the Meekrob

- Were meant to be conquered by Tenn.

The Luna=Lunarians

- Rocket-shaped aliens who jump between the two different moons.

-  Conquered by Invader Krunk.

The Lumious

- Spend their entire lives playing tunes to their homeworld’s gleaming lights

- Allies of the Limobutians

- Assignment of Invader Zee.

The Dejehian Syndicate

- Around 22 billion strong

- Has laid waste to countless artificial immigrant worlds - Enemy of the Anti-Planet Jacker Alliance.

- Destroyed by 14 Invader Teams.

The Hanihulans

- Nomadic bee-like beings with a sweet tooth only rivalled by Tallest Purple.

- One of the oldest enemies of the Empire

- Ally of the Florians - Currently attempting to destroy the blockade around Florias.

The Gelyvern Shinobi Orders.

- 800 members per order.

- Their homeworld is under Irken rule but nearly all of the Gelyverns have escaped captivity to join the Coalition.

The Olkari

- Extraordinary engineers capable of manipulating both solid metal and biological materials.

- Their homeworld was conquered by Invader Larb.

- Many managed to escape into the forests of their homeworld and have turned into a death-trap for any Irken forces that try to enter.

The Reiphodians

The Taujeerians

- Were conquered by the Empire after they caught them in the middle of evacuating their homeworld - They were forced to surrender to spare their people from destruction.

Razen/Raguafor

- Fire World from Magical Starsign

- Native races: Dwarves, Potfolk and Putty

- Conquered by Invader Lardnar.

The Grenians (From Magical Starsign)

- Salamanders and Felins.

- All their magicians were captured by the Empire.

-  Conquered by Invader Groot for the Tallest to gain access to Gummy Frogs.

Nova (From Magical Starsign)

- Homeworld of the Luminites and the Dancing Fruit People.

- The planet's atmosphere is made nearly entirely out of plasma.

- Conquered by Invader Groot.

The Cazar

- From Ratchet and Clank

- Homeworld: Marcida in the Solana Galaxy - Weakened by Invader Caz.

- Leaders of the resistance in Solana against the Empire.

The Shadow Sector

- Dreadzone is held here.

- Worlds included: Catacrom Four (home to robotic zombies), Kronos (dark and stormy world), Maraxus (desert world that was once home to a prison), Sarathos (very gaseous - Future Imperial Training World), Shaar (Ice World), Stygia (Cold world plagued by meteor showers) and Torval (Infested by robotic zombies)

- Conquered by seven Invader Teams.

The Aquatoians

- From Ratchet and Clank

- Natives of Aquatos

- Conquered by Invader Slu

The Cactus-People of Hydrano.

-  From Ratchet and Clank

-  Conquered by Invader Slu

The Batalian Planetary Defence Army.

-  Blue-skinned aliens from Ratchet and Clank

- Conquered by Invader Nip.

The Floranians

- From Ratchet And Clank

- Races: Nabla Natives and Cyclophic Monkeys.

-   Conquered by Invader Labrel.

The Calzonians

- From Ratchet And Clank

- Short and bat-like.

- Conquered by Invader Caz.

The Rilgarians

- Green-skinned tridactyl humanoids from Ratchet And Clank

- Conquered by Invader Poog.

The Ryllusian Pygmies

- From Ratchet And Clank

- Conquered by Invader Reys - Reys’ name comes from For The Glory Of Irk.

The Dayni Robot Farmers’ Militia

- From Ratchet And Clank

- Conquered by Invader Lint

The Thugs/Snivelakians

- Reptilians from Ratchet and Clank

- From the Bogon Galaxy

- Were paid a fortune by the Empire to conquer the Bogon Galaxy for them - Went rogue and started fighting against the Empire when some Irkens attacked Savali in search of interdimensional knowledge.

- Worlds under their control: Snivelak (HQ), Aranos, Barlow and Gorn.

The Damoselians

- Turtle-like people from Ratchet And Clank

- From the Bogon Galaxy

- Were forced to surrender after their robots were hijacked by the Irkens.

The Tribesmen

- From Ratchet and Clank

-Found in Vukovar Canyon on Barlow and on Joba of the Bogon Galaxy .

- Conquered by Invaders Rushal and Mathies.

The Ardolian Space Pirates of the Polaris Galaxy

- From Ratchet And Clank

- Worlds: Ardolias, Merdegraw, Voron Asteroid Belt,

- Engaged in a war with the Pirate Armada.

The Morts of the Polaris Galaxy

- From Ratchet And Clank

- Homeworld: Sargasso

- Conquered by Invader Mortiarty.

The Kerchu of the Polaris Galaxy

- From Ratchet And Clank

- Homeworld: Jasindu - Under Imperial blockade.

The Nanophytes of Polaris

- Inhabit the ruins of Fastoon

- Currently at war with the Empire over Lombax technology.

The Vullard Scavenging Guilds

- From Polaris Galaxy

- Lost Lumos to Agorian forces.

- Free Vullards taking refuge on Torren IV under the protection of the Fixer.

The Tharpod Exodus Fleet

-  From Polaris Galaxy

- Fled Magnus to escape the Agorians - Defences were weakened by Invader Iota.

The Markazians

- Conquered by the Irkens and Agorians to be used to extract the lethal acid on their homeworld.

The Fongoids

-  Technology-shunning aliens found on Quantos, Zanifar and Morklon.

- The Agorians conquered Morklon’s Fongoids before conquering the ones on Quantos and -Zanifar with the help of Invaders Hostelter and Lapp.

The Terachnoids

- Brilliant, arrogant inventors and scientists.

- Had their homeworld turned into a military research prison

- Conquered by Invader Spleen.

The Drophyds

- Made up the majority of the Polaris Imperial Army before they were defeated by the Irkens’ allies.

- Homeworld was conquered by Invader Thavak.

The Amperi

- From Ben 10

- Homeworld: Tesslos

- Under Irken invasion.

The Cascans

- From Ben 10

- Homeworld: Cascereau.

- Armoured, underwater creatures.

- Briefly at war with the Cascan Pirate Kings primarily thanks to Invaders Kim and Spleen - Currently under Irken invasion.

The Geochelone Aerios/Aldabrans.

- From Ben 10

- Homeworld: Aldabra

- Towering, turtle-like aliens.

- Joined the Coalition to help those in need.

The Kiusanians

- From Ben 10

- A collective of races that call Kiusana home.

- Orishans are worshipped as part-village shamans and part-rockstars.

- The Empire attempted to vassalize them by promising to fix up their world, but the Kiusanians found out about their other practices and went to war.

The Talpaedans

- From Ben 10

- Were conquered by the Empire and put to work as sentient mining and digging equipment on conquered worlds.

The Ebarians - From the Polaris Galaxy - From Ratchet And Clank - Religious people - Conquered by Invader Strythe

The Grathorians - From the Polaris Galaxy - Surrendered to the Empire to avoid being conquered outright. - Resistance Group: The Rising Note.

The Jargonians - From the Polaris Galaxy - Torturers hired by the Coalition to torture prisoners of war.