Maykr



The maykr are an advanced alien race encountered in Doom Eternal that hail from the city or land of Urdak. The maykr are a hive-mind race, lead by the so-called Khan Maykr. The maykr species is believed to be ancient, and they generally consider themselves to be gods and far beyond the lives of other species, whom they refer to only as 'mortals'.

Physiology
Visually, the maykr resemble humanoid beings with two arms each ending in three to five digits. The lower section of the maykr however, is split into several tendrils or tentacles. Much of maykr physiology varies dramatically depending on their class or age, with younger and lower subvarities such as the maykr drones having no visible arms and being far smaller than 'higher' maykr.

While normally covered entirely in white and gold armour plating, the mayker are actually flesh, despite them generally being referred to as 'etheral beings' by other civilisations. Their skin is pinkish and their features seem to be reminiscent of many demons, or at least this is true for the Khan Maykr. This includes a maw of sharp teeth, little subdermal fat tissue, four sets of yellow eyes and an exposed cortex. It is possible, however, that the appearence of the Khan Maykr has been corrupted by the use of Argent Energy - since similar features can be observed on corrupted humans and Argentians.

Society and History
The maykr are an incredibly advanced civilisation, with techological abilities far beyond both the people of Earth and Argent D'Nur. The maykr have used this technological superiority to subjugate and essentially vassalise 'lesser' civilisations, posing as their gods and offering technological enlightenment and the questionably accurate 'life after death' in return for other species' servitude. In-game codex entries suggests they may have done this to multiple civilisations across the entire galaxy. The most notable case are the people of Argent D'Nur, or argentians, with whom the maykr formed a very close alliance with some time ago.

The maykr society is a form of hive-mind, with individuals that are more-or-less independent but obliged to always follow the will of their leader - the Khan Maykr. The Khan Maykr has a lifespan of around 10,000 Earth-years, and once the Khan Maykr dies a new one will be formed through an unknown process believed to involve the fusing of several lesser maykr. This process could only be done via the help of a being known by the Maykr as The Father. At some point, the Father died or became unable to continue this process, which means no new Khan Maykr can be formed. This is catastrophic for the Maykr race since their race would eventually lose their leader and possibly even go extinct  if it weren't for the use of argent energy. Dr. Samuel Hayden have described the maykr as a dying race, and it is possible that they cannot reproduce at all, being completely dependent on argent energy in order to prolong the lifespans of already living maykr.

In order to secure a supply of argent energy, the maykr has taken to invading other plantets or dimensions to harvest the energy of other lifeforms. The maykr betrayed the people of Argent D'Nur and allied with the forces of Hell - in exchange for a limitless supply of Argent energy, the maykr would help the demons with the process of harvesting other races and harvesting their life essence, their souls, and further expand the dominion of Hell.

The maykr show little to no remorse regarding the billions of lives that are lost in the process of sustaining their civilisation and will stop at nothing to enable the complete consumption of entire planets for their own good. The maykr are also extremely arrogant and due to their technological superiority and argent-induced immortality they generally view themselves as gods. For this reason they consider themselves entitled to the sacrifice of other races - that other races must pay penance to them and that they should be honoured to do so.

Culture and Technology
Maykr technology is complex, sophisticated and generally very refined. Most things made by the maykr tend to be white with gold and red metallic details. This includes buildings, weaponry and their armour. In Urdak, it can be seen that the maykr enjoy mixing elements of their culture with natural elements of rock and foilage on what is most likely their homeworld. Most maykr buildings are also richly adorned with various details and embelishments, statues of themselves, golden symbols from their language and more.

For some reason the Maykr choose to wear human-like facial masks that conceal their otherwise rather alien features. It is possible the maykr wear these as a social adornment due to their long history with the people of Argent D'Nur, since the narrow facial features and simewhat angled eye placement resemble theirs. In that case the mask would possibly make the Argentians more inclined to believe the maykr are gods rather than aliens. It is also possible this is the maykr's original appearence, but that countless of years of sustaining themselves on argent energy has corrupted their features.

Trivia

 * Just like how the demons in the various Doom games have a strong resemblance to biblical demons, the maykr have a thematic resemblance to angels or heavenly beings in Abrahamic religions. The maykr equally often describe themselves as such.
 * Who or what The Father was is unclear, but it is heavily implied that The Father may have been an AI of sorts, responsible for engineering the maykr race. Evidence towards this include the entirety of the city of Urdak being built from the remains of The Father, as well as VEGA, an AI, asking "Am I the Father?" when connected to the mainframe of Urdak. The Father may also be the remains of an immesely large, seeminly dormant maykr-like being seen near the end of the Urdak level.