T'Lik are roughly human-sized, ant-like aliens that walk upright on two legs. Coloration is generally red, brown or black and eyes are green. Conditions on their home-world are unknown, but it is believed to have a slightly lower gravity than that of Earth. A brief description would be: intelligent, group oriented, territorial and curious. Their government is referred to as the Consensus and seems to be a sort of confederation of linked groups. Various castes make up the species; those usually encountered are Thinkers, Warriors and Workers. Seldom seen are the Breeders (occasionally, and inaccurately, referred to as "Queens"), who lay the eggs from which the T'Lik hatch. While extremely group-oriented, these aliens have individual personalities and do not have a Hive Mind per se. Nevertheless, they seem to be most comfortable in groups with a Thinker.

All T'Lik possess varying degrees of some sense like telepathy or empathy, and this is one of the dominant factors of their societies. The Thinker caste are the leaders and have stronger abilities. They form the hubs of what can be likened to a wireless computer network. Other T'Lik link to this by instinct and are guided by the Thinker (AKA "Brain Bug"). Several Thinkers may, in turn, link to another (senior or more mentally powerful) Thinker. Such sub-nets allow for coordinated efforts by larger groups, but keep "noise" down. Like a human in a crowded room, T'Lik must make an effort to pick up or convey anything more than general impressions.

Thinkers direct activities, filter out higher levels of "noise" (from an injured T'Lik, for example) and create links of varying duration to other Thinkers. When necessary, several groups will form a larger network to share information or make important decisions. Thinkers also display more individuality than other T'Lik. Their telepathic abilities may or may not be capable of reading other species' minds; various Consensus Ambassadors have been vague on this point.

Warriors are bred to fight. While equipped with claws, they prefer more advanced weaponry (such as blasters). Armor is practically unknown, but jet packs are standard equipment. Various combat walkers and grav sleds are also used by ground forces.

Workers form the bulk of the population and handle all production, maintenance and the like in the society. In human terms, their roles range from farmers to shopkeepers to factory workers. Some tend the favored T'Lik food animal, a large grub-like creature with an unpleasant disposition (hence their usual name of "Devil Grubs"). In emergencies, Workers may be armed to fight, but make indifferent troops at best.

A population will sometimes produce more Breeders than usual. The group will split when this happens, with some accompanying the Breeders to found a new colony. Until the colony is established, T'Lik in the new group tend to be more aggressive than usual. Being a spacefaring race, their colonies are now regularly set up on new worlds. Vast transport vessels are specially constructed before the new Breeders hatch. These vessels are built to land once and cannot take off again; they will form the nucleus of the new settlement. Warships belonging to the new group (assuming they have "inherited" any, which is usually the case) will fly escort for the arks.

The exact timing of these events is unknown. From what information the Imperial Intelligence Service has acquired, it seems to be a matter of decades. It is also believed that these colonial periods have become less common as the T'Lik have moved into space. One confirmed fact is that the timing is not the same for different T'Lik worlds, possibly a result of hyperspace travel, varying ecological systems or some other variable. Population size may also play a part.

The T'Lik do not allow alien intrusion into their space. A few exceptions occur in star systems they have declared Open, all of which lie on the borders of their territory. These systems play host to traders, scientists, Ambassadors and spies from other starfaring cultures.

Possibly as a result of their occasional migrations, the T'Lik maintain a watch on nearby worlds suitable for colonization. These serve as a buffer zone and most sentients have enough sense to stay clear. Conflicts have occurred between groups of T'Lik migrating to their new home and colonists from other species who had no idea the planet was claimed. In some instances, arrangements have been made to allow both groups of colonists to co-exist. In other cases (especially those where the "squatters" decided to shoot first) the result has been war.

Small groups of T'Lik do work and live outside of their homeworlds, often in meteor miners and tramp freighters. Equipped with their large arrays of sensors and communications gear, these battered vessels are a common sight throughout many regions of space. In the Imperial Deep Space Fleet, the first sight of "Buzz" on a cruise is said to be a sure sign to veteran spacers that they have just left the Restricted Area surrounding their naval base.

In place of computers, the T'Lik use artificially grown organic brains. Such brains can be included in the linked groups and are routinely installed where humans would use computers. Various models of combat walkers are controlled in this way, essentially making them robots. This also accounts for the relative lack of monitors and terminals noticed in T'Lik spacecraft.

A typical T'Lik city appears as a cluster of towering domes and rounded cones. The sides of these are dotted with landing pads, windows, balconies and terraces. Land between the domes is typically left in a semi-wild state unless the local fauna and/or fauna pose a threat to the inhabitants. Beneath the city stretches a vast system of tunnels and chambers; these hold the support systems required by any city (power plants, water supplies, etc.) as well as breeding and incubation chambers. Other such chambers serve for storage, arsenals, space-raid shelters and the like.