Grosgumbeekians

The Grosgumbeekians are a race from the planet Grosgumbeek.^[1] They are quadrupeds without prehensile appendages,^[2] instead having hooves for locomotion,^[1] or clawed feet. They lack any prehensile appendage,^[2] thou they also have a tail.^[2][1] While they look mostly like running animals, their long faces are partially humanoid^[2] and very expressive.^[1]

The species is mostly peaceful and focus their whole lives in running for joy and pursuing higher speed for its own sake. Naturally fast and able to reach 770 mph,^[2] they discovered access to Tachyon Tunnels that increased their speed exponentially,^[2][3] earning them the reputation of being one of the fastest species in the Milky Way,^[3] and even in existence.^[2][4][5] However, as the Grosgumbeekians focus exclusively on running for all their lives,^[2] even disregarding competitions for finding those untasteful,^[2][3] few other beings are really familiar with the Grosgumbeekians.^[2] Grosgumbeekians do train each other,^[3] and are known to run literally until death, as when they feel the end coming, they make one last run until their breath stops.^[2][1]

Grosgumbeekians live in small family or tribe groups.^[2] Elderly Grosgumbeekians may suffer from senility making them behave irrationally, but their communities still take care of these people.^[2][3] They do not seem to have built cities or technologies, as those would hinder a nomadic living style.^[3]

The Runner, one of the Elders of the Universe whose focus was on freedom and running, refused to learn the Grosgumbeekian process to reach the Tachyon Tunnel when he discovered it could not be reverted, thou he learned about it.^[3] However, still impressed at the Grosgumbeekians' speed, he went to Grosgumbeek when he arranged a Galactic Marathon to find the fastest person in the Milky Way, at least a millenia ago. The Grosgumbeekians were uninterested in such a competition,^[3][6][2] so the Runner left a portal to the starting line, in case they changed their minds.^[3][6]

One alien member of the organization Mourners heard of how Grosgumbeekians moved close to lightspeed all the time,^[7] and, during the battle of Scadam,^[7] shared this information with Makkari of the Earth's Eternals, a superfast visitor to their starship interested in speed.^[7][1][2] This awoke Makkari's interested, who insisted in investigating these people^[4][5] and travel there to learn their technique^[7][2] and increase his own powers.^[4] The Mourners took Makkari to Grosgumbeek onboard their ship, Mourning Star, and dropped him there. Makkari found a racing Grosgumbeekian and opened communication, but his interlocutor expired of old age immediately afterward.^[1] Makkari then met another elderly Grosgumbeekian, Huyenneyuh, who suffered from senility^[3] yet agreed to mentor Makkari in the Grosgumbeekian techniques,^[3][2][4][5] even against the wishes of other Grosgumbeekians,^[2] including Huyenneyuh's family, who found Makkari's interests distateful.^[3] Makkari succeeding at learning the secrest to increase his speed^[3][4][5] through the Tachyon Tunnel. At that point, the Runner came back to announce that he had decided the competitors, and offered the Grosgumbeekians to send a witness of the race.^[3] Agonizing due to his old age, Huyenneyuh told Makkari about the Runner's marathon and prompted Makkari to earn a position in the marathon, to honor Huyenneyuh and the Grosgumbeekians, which he agreed as he considered it a tribute to his mentor.^[2][3] Makkari bid goodbye to Huyenneyuh's relatives, who had never respected Makkari, and left Grosgumbeek to participate in the race.^[3][6]

Makkari ended the marathon first, beating the Runner himself by using the Grosgumbeek technique. Only then he noticed he could not return to the normal speed. Another Elder of the Universe, the Grandmaster, offered to use his powers over time and space to cure Makkari, in exchange for three millenia of servitude, which Makkari rejected. Makkari agreed however to collaborate with fellow racer Fastforward to try and find a cure.^[3][4][5] The Runner then annoucned that the race had been declared forfeit due to another racer having cheated, so they'd have to repeat it - but Makkari refused to take part, much to the Racer's disappointment, as he wanted to know which of them was fastest.^[3][6] Makkari eventually recovered control over his powers thanks to the help of Fastforward.^[2]

• Superspeed: Grosgumbeekian bodies are adapted to speed, running over 770 mph (Mach-1) for extended periods of time.^[2]
  • Tachyon Tunnel: Grosgumbeekians can learn how to access the Tachyon Tunnels, warp fields that allow them to run at much higher speeds,^[2] without suffering the physical issues that approaching lightspeed may cause. To reach the Tachyon Tunnel, a Grosgumbeekian (or another super-fast individual) must remove any limitation of his or her mind and focus exclusively on becoming speed, so as to reach the so-called absolute speed, supposedly faster than the speed of thought, by removing mental barriers.^[3] The process, however, is not reversible by any means known by the Grosgumbeekians,^[2][3] meaning that, once this state is achieved, the person would be unable to tune his or mind so as to return to normal speed.^[3][4][5] In practice, such a person can only talk or interact with either other super-fast beings (thou not neccessarily so fast) or with people with powers that allow such interaction. This is not a problem for Grosgumbeekians, because their culture focuses on such level of speed.^[3] However, Makkari and Fastforward found a way to reverse the process.^[2]
• Telepathy: As they move faster than sound,^[1] Grosgumbeekians communicate with each other through telepathy.^[2] They can also communicate telepathically with beings from other species, if they chose to do so,^[1] thou they communicate in their own tongue. If the target is inside the Tachyon Tunnel, as Grosgumbeekians can be, the target's mind may be so focused on speed itself that the thoughts will not be registered for some time.^[3]

Some elder Grosgumbeekians experiment senility,^[2] at which point their behavior is no longer the socially acceptable in their communities, but is accepted due to their state.^[3]

Tribal or familial societies.^[2]

• Focus obssessively in running and pursuit of speed.^[2]
• Peaceful^[2] and non-competitive.^[2][3]
• When reaching time of death, they take one last run until they collapse.^[2][1]
• They believe that death means that the current form wears out.^[3]

• Duntumbla^[2][3]
• Huyenneyuh^[2] (deceased)^[3]
• Startanious^[2][3]

• The Grosgumbeekians seen in Quasar #47 and Quasar #58 appear to have hooves in their legs; but the image in their profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #2 shows a Grosgumbeekian with clawed feet.
• The profile on Grosgumbeekians in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #2 mentions how the Runner's race aimed to find the fastest person in the universe. However, the race was restricted to the Milky Way, that being an important plot explained in Quasar #58; and it is called the Galactic Marathon in the Runner's profile in 1 of that same Official Handbook.

• Grosgumbeekian idioms include "Thank swiftness" and nicknaming a humanoid "Twoleg".^[3]