Reticulans are slightly built with colorless skin and oversized "almond"-shaped black eyes with a biological lifespan of 200 - 400 years.
Today it is generally agreed that Reticulans were actively involved in human biological and cultural development on Earth for 30,000 years, and perhaps much longer.
The name "reticulan" is a misnomer. It is rooted in the Expansion Period supposition that the species' homeworld was Zeta 2 Reticuli IV (now called Glassis). It is now thought that, despite the massive permanent Reticulan presence on Z2 Reticuli IV / Glassis, the Reticulan world of origin lay elsewhere.
Dozens of possible origins for the Reticulans have been proposed, but none has been widely accepted. Some wilder speculations include a Grey origin in another galaxy altogether, or even another space-time.
Reticulans do not seem to regard themselves as individual beings and are often physically indistinguishable. Nevertheless, humans often describe their relationships with individuals Reticulans as unique, rich, and multi-faceted. Spiritually inclined persons have said that this indicates the presence of a highly developed Reticulan "soul". Most socio-scientific studies, however, attribute the attachment to a simple Reticulan ability to emotionally and psychically "mirror" - so that a human's desires, beliefs, emotional states are reflected back, giving an illusion of a Reticulan persona with feelings and desires in harmony with their own.
Reticulan technological assistance - particularly the introduction to C+ elements, and later the "Gift of the Jonahs" - was the most important catalyst in expanding Human migration and development beyond the Solar system.
A number of notable Reticulan individuals - the propriety of the term "Persons" is still hotly debated - appear in the Cyclopedia, including:
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•"Hippo"
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•"Neeps"
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•"Noddie"
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•"Rinia La"
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•“Whana”
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Before regular and normalized contact began in the final years of the Old Era, the Reticulan presence was known primarily by sightings of Reticulan vessels. Records of encounters with these "greycraft" (as they were often called in the Fencepost Period) date from the earliest times.
