Hello, me again! Forgive me if I end up absolutely blowing up your ask box but I love this game so much and there's a lot I'm curious about. Could you pretty please tell me more about the Volshiru? I know it's probably all mysterious and vague on purpose but after Wil's encounter with Shuru and the very minimal information we get on the Volshiru, I really want to know more. Also, if you could give a few details on what Shuru is like beyond what we see in the game, that would be wonderful. I have been rotating him in my head since I first saw him and I'm very curious who he is and how he is so familiar with Noel. Thank you!
The Volshiru are just a highly evolved and secretive race - they're quite advanced but no one really knows that much about them. They are an Archaean species though by the game's standards.
Shuru's current appearance in the game is fairly close to how they actually look though, as the game says, they alter perception and few people actually know what a Volshiru looks like naturally. (The game also implies that not everyone who meets Shuru sees him the way he's presented visually to the player).
Shuru is a fairly uncomplicated guy so how he presents himself to the player is fairly close to how he behaves generally though he's a little more closed off with others. He and Noel are nashir so he's very open with Noel and the crew members. But he's generally a very calm and laid back guy. He just kind of likes hanging out there and keeping an eye on the station. The planet below the station is a world that the Volshiru watch over (it's not their homeworld but it is a planet that they have longstanding ties with). And one of the reasons Shuru sticks around there is just to keep an eye on stuff. No one knows that this planet is connected to the Volshiru.
He and Noel met on the station by chance and instantly connected as friends. Volshiru don't really have a concept of 'nashir' like Veleians but Shuru is very aware that he and Noel have some kind of connection that goes deeper than 'we meet up sometimes by chance' - and Noel is one of the very few people outside of other Volshiru that he considers a friend. They just hang out and talk when they get a chance and Shuru has just always had the sense of - no matter where Noel goes or what he does, somehow their paths will always cross again so he stays where he is and Noel wanders and Shuru just waits for Noel to come back around again.