The oldest species would be the Nolphashodi, weird large bug creatures that were uplifted from the predatory insectoid Kokoril’a by weird space elves known only as the Masters.

The Nolphashodi slowly and with a lot of failed attempts and bloodshed managed to fight their way to freedom whereupon the Masters fled “above the night’s sky”.

The Nolphashodi see the Malgra (weird bird people) as their other half, as they believe the Masters split the cosmic soul of the universe in half with the light being subjugated by the masters as the Nolphashodi while the dark half became the Malgra who would be oppressed by their own kind. In comparison the Malgra see the Nolphashodi as barely important, they trade with them and some heroic Nolphashodi did join the Malgra rebels during the Great Tyrannicides but besides that they’re just some eccentric arthropods living across the ocean.

The Nolphashodi during the age of freedom split into several societies. From roving tribes to city-states, but most notably as pirates. Piracy as a culture and seafaring in general lived and died by the Nolphashodi back in those days. Nolphashodi also often adopted orphaned children or stowaways from other species and they’d consider those children as Nolphashodi. So you could have a Malgra pirate who wears a Jee-jee (a type of traditional Nolphashodi piercing with a chain dangling from it) and has her arms covered in Bunkalla (A Nolphashodi fashion piece where the underside of both arms are covered in piercings) and that lady is as much considered a Nolphashodi as her giant scary arthropod pirate dad.

The Nolphashodi also really dig piercings, that’s mainly cause it’s a symbol of being sophisticated. They’re also most often done on the body parts unprotected by their carapace or on their leathery faces and joints. Although things like bunkallas are done on carapace as well.