WORLD
Chroma’s species’ world is a pretty tropical planet, with plentiful water and plants. It never left the megafauna era.
The primary environmental pressure is the fact that extremely acidic rain happens quite frequently, and is part of the drinkable water (or whatever substitute drink) supply.
The trees actually filter this out and produce fruits with pure water: nothing can drink straight from a watering hole, instead having to either eat a plant product, or eat something else. Chroma’s species in particular have little fangs and tough jaws to crack through bark and get to plant’s water in both fruits and the tough shelled “water storage” (which are more similar to coconuts).

Because of this acid rain there are two primary “strategies” that evolution took. The first was “tough shells” to make the creatures resistant to the acidic rain, protecting the softer bits under a bug-like exoskeleton or tough scales; this is the method of protection Chroma’s species falls under (bug-like, specifically). The second was to shift underground, deep underground, so deep that for the most part the surface dwellers are completely unaware, even unable to interact. They live in a complex network of caves and tunnels that exist underneath, drinking the uncorrupted water from roots of trees or places where the acid didn’t become part of the environment. These creatures tend to be soft.
There is actually another sentient society of mole-like people— carnivorous, luring in prey via fungal farms. For a long time, even Chroma’s species (similarly smart and developed) were unaware of them— thankfully, due in part to Chroma’s species flighty nature (being prey), nothing of particular value, and the fact that the mole-like species could not come to the surface for an extended period (due to the acid), there was no conflict.
There is a middle ground: creatures that live primarily under trees/caves, but closer to the surface. They either exist in what we imagine to be a typical cave ecosystem their whole lives… OR they are fast enough and attuned enough to the storms or need to eat very little so that they can leave their safe spot during a clear point and rush out to eat.

Within this world, there was a similar die off; something geological rose up and introduced the acid into the environment, quickly killing off anything that was too soft. Everything remaining evolved appropriately. The best translations (of Chroma’s words) for these eras are the “Basic Era” (which Chroma’s human friends get a kick out of) and the “Acidic Era” (current).
The cave ecosystem is more representative of what used to live in the BE, though obviously it has adapted to cave life at that point.

CHROMA’S SPECIES: BIOLOGY
Chroma’s species are prey, not predators. They are small in comparison to a significant number of the megafauna-like animals on their planet (though compared to us, slightly taller than the average person). They are herbivorous (though can, do, and should consume protein-rich non-animal material, things similar to fungus).
Their prey role is what forced them into the niche of intimidation. They achieve intimidation through their powerful vocal mimicry (their chest bellows, and the bristles on their back they can rub together) and extremely good color control (the bristles again, as well as the wing-like visual panels).
The species tends to travel in groups, interlocking the visual panels (which again, are only wing-like and do not assist in any sort of flight) to create a massive threat display or warning. These groups as well as the evolutionary benefits of having more of a brain that could store and recognize more complicated images/patterns/etc drove them to intelligence. Eventually, the sound mimicry and visual mimicry combined and became a language.
Back before they became “civilized” they were often used by other prey species as a “warning/alarm system” as well as a way to intimidate threats, and thus had mutual relationships. Many animals will instinctively recognize them as nonthreatening, partially due to this fact as well as the fact that they are (relatively) small.

When it comes down to it and their intimidation fails, their primary ability is speed. Within the thing that constitutes as their spine/back, there exists 2 “pivot points”— one at the base of the neck, one at the hips. This allows their stance to become almost like a velociraptor in order to run at high speeds, and their lungs that act as bellows (the outer “ribcage” acting in place of a diaphragm, similar to gastralium) provide a large amount airflow.

Another thing that makes Chroma’s species unique is their ability to continue to cocoon even after they have matured past their larval stage (which they do quite quickly, they emerge past a larva within the toddler equivalent of their life). This naturally is used to heal wounds and sort of “reset” (such as when a limb is lost)— however, it was found that those in such a state could be genetically manipulated. This— on top of the fact that between the visual panels and mimicry of sounds make them excellent communicators and quick learners— pushed this species further down the rabbithole of intergalactic space travel (for resources as well as a data log of different species, similar to humanity). They could adjust to other gravities, air, etc on the fly.

CHROMA’S SPECIES: CIVILIZATION & TRAVEL

Essentially, Chroma’s species’ goal is to set up warp gates place to place— both useful, resource rich places, as well as just teleporting to sectors to make travel time outwards from that point faster (space is big).
They have essentially discovered how to harness those quantum particles that exist simultaneously (though even they still don’t fully get how they work) to use as batteries for FTL (faster than light) travel (though that still takes a long time) and wormhole creation/stabilization. Essentially, because this series isn’t really that serious, they take one “end” of the battery and throw it into a star to harness that energy, and the other end is attached to a warpgate/engine/etc. I’m actually kind of amazed I haven’t seen someone do something like this already, because in my opinion it’s hilarious.

Back at their home planet, their energy is really clean as a consequence of these batteries. They actually are still fairly in touch with nature/etc and work it into their structures, and as a consequence even the spaceships have a reputation of being very pleasant and natural, rather than cold, hard, techy, and minimalistic.
In the age of warp and space travel, many tourists/visitors buy domes to protect from the acidic rain, since most of them cannot withstand it. The cities themselves have contemplated turning on a giant dome, and indeed actually have put one in as a more “in case of attack” measure. They never do, though, because most actually like the acid rain (such is a benefit of not really having something that actually gets wet, given their bristles are tough and they have exoskeletons). Because of this, many foreign species don’t actually settle there— just visit.

Because Chroma’s species are smaller prey by nature, they tend to be kind of flighty and over-cautious in interactions, and are generally much more likely to flee than fight. They are still naturally curious, like us, though.
In general, because their world is sort of perfect already (at least in regards to clean energy / etc) they travel as a very peaceful and helpful type of alien, giving planets/species the opportunity for new tech, and often benefiting from new tech or new biological structures to implement into their forms upon cocoon mutation in return, and a chance to join the small-ish but growing network of species that can travel between planets, and know that they aren’t alone in the universe any longer.

LANGUAGE
Chroma’s species have made pretty good translator tech, and are generally very good at picking languages up quickly. Given they have both audio and visual ways of communication, they make the ultimate talker given that these are both common ways other species communicate.
Chroma’s language has three “versions,” as opposed to just two (“written” and “spoken”).
Spoken:
Words are like music, and expression is done largely through mixes of color on the visual panes and fur. Amount of fur colored = intensity of emotion; usually they only do their head, but an intense emotion might be expressed by changing their entire line of bristles.
Every one claims their own neutral colors; this is an active choice that can change over time, rather than one that is determined. For example, Chroma’s neutral colors are a peachy pink and light, warm orange.
These colors, combined with a series of trilling notes, is Chroma’s name in this language. A name is the individual’s colors plus a couple meaningless notes (like humming a song).
This barely scratches the surface of how much the visual impacts even their spoken language; not only does color aid in tone and expression of emotion (without it, everything they say comes across as flat to each other), it also aids in visual description; you could literally show the scene you’re talking about, or show certain aspects (ie color) to describe something.
Flashing:
Using colors and patterns, they are able to communicate in something similar to Morse. At close range, they can pack a lot of info in by flashing segments of themselves simultaneously, but further away, they obviously have to pull back and do one or two at a time.
Written:
The language is written more similar to music; a symbol underneath each letter indicates how long or short the note is, and the letters themselves are denoted into a grid to indicate what note they are. It’s difficult to explain, especially since even I don’t have it planned yet, but if it’s comparable to anything, it’s comparable to the rules of braille. If braille were for musical notation.
And had colors, since colors are used to indicate tone. It is similarly not uncommon for the words to stop and give way to quick pictures, since they are such a visual species.