Wanted: a few good aliens...

[Warspite]

OK, this is a topic for future reference about alien species.

Create and explain (as much as possible) a realistic sentient alien species.
What's their homeworld like, biology, culture, have they achieve spaceflight, you know, the whole shebang.

Simple enough, no? ( )

No methane breathers that only eat kelp and reproduce, and no humanoid foreheaders with simple racial traits, I'm talking about a diverse species as our own.


P.S.: It' okay to get inspiration from other people's works, as long as there is enough personal input to make it diferent.

[Lord Pounder]

Patrick Tilley wrote about some very cool alien species. In particular try his book Xan. That alien used a ship that was sentient and fed on souls. TO was pretty cool but a bit old.

[neoolong]

Really, the easiest ones to think of are just sentient versions of animals. A bit simplistic, but it is the most realistic. You can mix traits between types as well. Kind of like the game Evolution(note: the evolution in the game isn't really evolution and could have been a lot better).

It's not like you're going to be seeing silicon based lifeforms realistically.

[Lagmonster]

Name: To-oi

Planet: To-oi-oh-on

Physiology: Carbon-based life form, the To-oi are completely aquatic creatures and are an unusual 45% nitrogen by mass. They are carnivorous, but can subsist on almost any kind of creature they hunt. They are physically analogous to the Terran walrus in body shape, with the exception of between three and nine short single-joined limbs protruding from the chest, each ending in six dexterous, two-jointed digits, three opposing the other. Their hides are very thick, and they secrete a wide variety of natural chemicals that act as sealants for wounds. They have no natural poisons in their homeworld environment and have strong immune systems against forms of disease that would be fatal to humans. Their central nervous system is extremely different from humans – they perceive damage and tactile sensations, but do not register them as humans do, ‘soft’, ‘hard’, ‘sharp’, ‘painful’, but rather as a universal tactile feeling. As a result, damage that would cause humans to be emotionally upset (ie, pain due to surface cuts) is ignored by the To-oi. Their physical ability to perceive changes in temperature, however, is acute. They are sexual organisms, divided into three types of male and one type of female. The males range from the smaller Toh-on, who grow no more than four feet in length and possess three limbs. They are colorless and hairless. The second male type is the Ong-oh, who can grow to over three metres in length, and in excess of four hundred pounds in weight. The Ong-oh are often stillborn, but those that survive prove themselves to be physically superior to the other types. The third male type is the Toi-oh, who are roughly eight feet in length and possess a full nine limbs. They are highly intelligent and dexterous, and are the only male type capable of producing offspring with To-oi females, as the sexual organs of the other types never fully develop. The females closely resemble the Toi-oh, with the exception of long, slender spines on their back, multicoloured. The To-oi females often decorate their spines for personal enjoyment. They are intelligent and playful, less nurturing than the males, and more focussed. Males of the species, particularly the Toh-on, tend to have very short attention spans. The visual acuity of the females, however, is diminished. Many males have shown the ability to see clearly out of the water, where females cannot. The To-oi breed in pools of twelve to fourteen individuals, and as their technology has improved, the infant mortality rate has dropped to less than four deaths per thousand live births, except in the case of Ong-oh males. Despite the face that sexual relations among the Toi-oh males and To-oi females are frequent and uninhibited, overcrowding is rarely an issue, as the To-oi have a lifespan of no more than forty earth years, and the To-oi are active practitioners of birth control. The Ong-oh and Toh-on often have romantic or emotional relationships with females that can last as ‘marriages’ for an entire lifetime, as technologies and medical procedures exist among the To-oi which assist the former ‘worker’ and ‘soldier’ castes to participate in sexual relations (although only a handful of cases exist in their entire history where such operations have allowed an Ong-oh or Toh-on to actually father children).

Homeworld: To-oi-oh-on world is less than 2% land, and their seas contain extremely low quantities of natural salts. The atmosphere contains a large amount of ammonia.

Language: Because they contain no vocal chords, communication takes place via expelling air from their lungs with different amounts of force, creating a very small range of independent consonants expressed at differing lengths and volumes. Where humans speak louder only to be heard better or in response to aggression, the To-oi language has many common words expressed at volumes that would be either damaging or inaudible to a human ear.

Society: The To-oi have extraordinarily well-developed sonar capabilities. This, coupled with the drastically short audible range of their language, has forced them to form tightly-knit social groups. In addition, they are shallow-water dwellers in a world predominantly composed of deep oceans. Long ago, competition for food in the relatively crowded upper-water levels of the World Ocean forced the To-oi to hunt more intelligently, and they developed the ability to build first rudimentary habitats close to shore, then cities. The To-oi formerly possessed a caste-like society which has been abandoned for many millions of years as the species developed. Technological advances for the race have eliminated the need for the species to specialize. The population of Toh-on and Ong-oh males born has been diminishing steadily for thousands of years. They possess no religion at all, and are poor storytellers. Their history is written, and their art sculpture. Their written language consisted first of using bones to delicately carve symbols into shale plates, and now they use a system of metal ‘pens’ and malleable tablets.

Technology: As a result of their environment, they have undergone a learning curve different than humans. Traditional steam technologies they ignored. Electronics technology came very late in their development, and was developed largely as a response to medical and communications advancements. They use phosphorescent materials for lighting, and are outstanding chemists. The majority of their technologies are chemical, rather than electrical systems. While they are aware of sciences at a level nearly on-par with humanity, they do not use as wide a range of technologies in their everyday life as humans do. They have achieved atmospheric, orbital, and deep-space flight. Their knowledge of fuels and non-rocketry-based propulsion systems is exceptional. They had a fully-operational space elevator to and from the surface of their planet before they had explored their moons. Their ships are relatively slow in speed (sub-luminal). They are persistent explorers, with nearly no fear of their own mortality, and many of their exploration ships have been in space for hundreds of generations. They are aware of a mortality rate among their explorers of nearly 75%, yet have no problem finding volunteers.

[NecronLord]

Imperium Public Reference Libarary

Article 2,331,120,223,412,312,312/1

Imperium Species Survey

Species: 5,641,348,646,168

Category: Full-Sentient; Species in this category, 8

The K'runn - Overview

Preface:

The K'runn are a tripedal Predatory life form originating from an earth like planet close to galactic central point. They are currently at a technological level close to, and in some areas exceeding the Imperium's. They lack the exotic matter technologies to make Wormhole Gateways, however their FTL drive has been observed to be stable at 120,000 C. Their Vessels tend to be constructed to a different ascetic to the Imperium's. Little is known of their societal structure, though they are believed to be hierachical.

Biology:

The K'runn are a Tripedal live form whose direct ancestry is predatory. The K'runn themselves use largely similar chemical reactions to earth based life froms. Their Tripedal symetery is repeated thoughout most of their internal structure, centering on a brain, sensory organs and food intake. Their endoskeletal(there is no exoskeleton) structure serves the function of anchoring their Muscles and providing a movement frame. There is no K'runn "Ribcage" or other skeletal defensive system, with the K'runn relying on speed to escape harm. They are known to be able to respire anerobically, though it is undetermined for how long.

They communiate orally, though at an ultrasound frequency inaudible to most humans. Their manipulator appendages are located in the center of the body, both below and above (though the upper appendages are mostly vestigial) the body.

Culture:

The culture of the K'runn is largely unknown to the Imperium, with most information being culled from Hyperspacial transmissions. The K'runn ruled by a patriach (the sex of this creature is unknown) The Patriach is appointed by a complex ritual, in which unworthy applicants are shamed. This structure is believed to have developed from hunting packs. There are various social constructs covering various aspects of life. These constructs have almost complete autonomy.

K'runn tend to go through a period of rebellion before they become sexually active, this has helped their development in the past by increasing diversity by intermixing offspring. The K'runn do not have a concept of family, only of pack. There are massive variations between Packs, though they tend to be prepared to forego this in favour of the species as a whole.

The attitude to humans tends to be dependant on pack, though millitary packs are known to actively despise non K'runn life.

Technology:

The K'runn have rapidly developed from a stone age level to a Post Super-Luminal age level in the past seven thousand years, the catalyst for this is believed to have been an ending heat-age on their homeworld culminating in an explosion of prey species, followed by a mass extinction of many of these species due to an unknown cause, the end result was the mass increase in K'runn mean intelligence due to the loss of less intelligent individuals. Their FTL meathod differs in application if not principle from Imperium FTL. They are also known to possess AI technology, and to have made some biological and cybernetic alterations to their bodies

[jaeger115]

Can I do more than one species? I have some different ones rolling around in my mind right now.

[jaeger115]

The Pyrrh.

Eight to nine feet tall, with multi-kneed legs allowing maximum flexibilty. They are reptilian, and look like Pachyolsaurus, that dinosaur with a long musical chord on it head (remember in the Lost World, when one of the guys said, "the Pompadour, Elvis!"). Some are dark-green skinned, while others can be red, orange, yellow, brown, or mottled. A blue-skinned Pyrrh is an extremely rare sight.

Males tend to grow to eleven feet tall and live up to 150 Earth years old (that's 80 Pyrrh years). Females grow up to eight feet and live up to 170 Earth years old (90.7 Pyrrh years).

Their homeworld is 45 percent water, and is on average hotter than Earth. Gravity is 80% heavier than Earth's. Atmosphere is mostly oxygen, and argon is the secondary gas. Nitrogen and carbon dioxide and other gases make up the rest. Apart from the seas, there are great, expansive deserts and grasslands. Due to the planet's fast rotation, the Pyrrh day is 11 Earth-hours long and hurricane-force winds shape the great dunes of the Cancer- and Capricorn- circles.

The Pyrrh species arose from herds of fast-moving herbivores/onmivores. Due to the rapidly changing global climate and wide range of enemies they faced in their grassland habitant, they had to develop considerable intelligence in order to survive. The Pyrrh have a strong herd mentality. There are rivalries between herds, yet in a dire situation, they will join forces. As a result of evolution, their group mentality is conservative and peaceful, but can be quite aggressive when challenged.

The early days of Pyrrh history saw different herds establish small outposts around rivers and lakes. These outposts eventually grew into towns, but never into cities until much later. Due to widespread famines in the grassland areas, they realized that they had to cross the seas or the great dunes to the south in order to access different sources of food. Many Pyrrh died during the great migrations, but some made it and formed new herds to replace these too depleted to reproduce. Over time, Pyrrh societies grew in isolation from each other.

I'm not sure how the Pyrrh develop later... wait for Part II.

[Captain tycho]

The Frenonoth: the Frenonoth are a highly advanced and aggresive race.
They stand no more than 4 feet high, but have incredible agility and strength. Each of the males has 3 legs and 4 8 fingered arms, while the femals have four legs but only one arm. Frenonoths travel by lowering their bodies to the ground, using their powerful legs and lower arms to propel them across the terrain at speeds exceeding 80 km/h. They have no eyes, but rather a highly sensitve '6th sense' that no one can identify.
They have large, well- protected brains, along with a highly redudant nervous system that allows them to take immese punishemt. Their bones are flexible but strong, and they can flaten their entire skeletal system in order to crawl into tight spaces. Skin color is ususally dark-brown to light-blue, depending on age, sex, and their enviroment.
They need large amounts of food to fuel their extremely high metobolisms, so starvation is always a possibility to them, especially in remote areas, since a Frenonoth that has lived without food for roughly 48 hours will die. They can compensate for that, however, by placing themselves in a state of hibernation, where they are totally helpless but can survive for up to 2 weeks without food. Diet consists mostly of meat, but they eat large amounts of vegetables as well.
Technology: The Frenonoths posses technology on par with that of the Galactic Empire, but with a far,far smaller industrial base. Primary weapons are high powered particle beams (somewhat similiar to turbolasers), while secondary weapons are almost always railguns (Usually used in ground combat.)

Culture: The Frenonoth culture used to be tribal many years ago, but now it is a simple democracy, with no base religion. They take pride in the warrior arts, but also explore other fields, such as genetics and physics.
Buacracy is minimal, due to the intense distaste of politicians in their culture.

[Sam Or I]

Sorry to say, but if he is looking for "realistic" alien societies, they cannot live in water. It just does not make sense to have an advanced culture without fire.

[Warspite]

Sorry to say, but if he is looking for "realistic" alien societies, they cannot live in water. It just does not make sense to have an advanced culture without fire.

I didn't say anything earlier about it, I'm letting the posts run for a few days more...

Keep going guys, by all means, post, post, post. We'll get to the discussions later...

[SirNitram]

The Descendents AKA Players Of The Game:

Status: Full Sentience.
Makeup: Artificial silicon lifeform
Ancestory: Powerful AI units constructed by race known only as Ancestors.

The sole remnant of an ancient civilization, the Descendents are powerful, near-godlike AI's equipped with technology well beyond Humanity's current knowledge. Apparantly once made with intent to preserve memories of their creators culture, they have turned their immortal gaze to the species rising to sentience in the Galaxy for use in a sadistic practice called 'The Game'. Pitting species against species, equipping each with ever-more-terrible weapons, the Game serves to entertain these near-gods at the expense of what they view simply as brief, stupid creatures. Arrogant and insolent to the extreme, the Descendents view all biological creatures to be toys and playthings, or worse, parasites of materials better used to construct more drones.

[jaeger115]

Alright, here's Part II

The Pyrrh language is similar to our own, but uses a more musical tone, by permission of their chords running up and back from their foreheads. Instead of speaking through vocal chords, as we do, they blow air through their noses, where it passes through the chords. The result is a beautiful sound controlled by how much air is breathed.

Due to their inbred conservatism and the less number of conflicts between herds than we do, Pyrrh technology tends to advance more slowly than ours. They achieved spaceflight in a hundred millenia, compared with our 40. Still by virtue of being here first, the Pyrrh race is far older and more advanced than the humans.

The Pyrrh homeworld goes through a series of devastating climate changes every few thousand years. They control inter-herd politics and may destroy a few unlucky herds. But the worst one during the 110th millenium completely wiped out half of the world's crops. Massive death and panic followed, and herd after herd merged into stronger ones for better chances of survival. Pyrrh scientists later predicted that the next climate changes would be even worse than the one they had just survived. That was when they looked to the stars as an avenue of escape. Normally, Pyrrh conservatism made it hard for anyone to visualize what was really out there, but in this situation things changed.

It took them a few hundred years to rebuild their herds and settle down in places with plenty of food and water in order to build towns where they could research space technology in peace. But a few wars exploded where renegade herds, desperate for this technology, attacked towns to get it. The superherds fought back, but the barbarians kept coming and coming. When their scientists realized that the planet's equator would be the best place from which to launch starships, several more wars rose when the superherds competed with one another to control the precious few lands on the equator.

Then in the fifth century of the 110th millenium, the first Pyrrh artifical satellite flew into orbit. Years later the first Pyrrh rocketed into orbit and performed several orbital changes before returning planetside.

[Warspite]

The Frenonoth: the Frenonoth are a highly advanced and aggresive race.
They stand no more than 4 feet high, but have incredible agility and strength. Each of the males has 3 legs and 4 8 fingered arms, while the femals have four legs but only one arm. Frenonoths travel by lowering their bodies to the ground, using their powerful legs and lower arms to propel them across the terrain at speeds exceeding 80 km/h. They have no eyes, but rather a highly sensitve '6th sense' that no one can identify. [...]

How come the disparities between male and female biology? Evolution should take care of that a long time ago, you know... Taking from Earth's biology, it should be the females the stronger, they carry their brethen, they have to gather food for themselves and their offspring... We have many examples right here of how evolution works.

[Singular Quartet]

Speicies analysis
Desginated Name: Hipsvin
Report opened: 123

The Hipsvin are a spicies of omnivorous hexapeds. Originally having developed in trees. Their powerful claws allowing them to attach to trees. It is believed that they have genetically manipulated themselves to remove undesirable traits, possibly around the same time as what they only reffer to as "The Event." We are unable to determine what "The Event" was (it is some sort of spiecies-wide secret that they have kept quite well, however detailed investigations suggest that it was some sort of genocide of asnother spiceies on their world.

Possibel Genetic modifiation include the seperation of feeding/breathing/vocal implements. The body of the Hiposvin is arranged such that the legs come off the side of the torso, with the head on the front. The six legs each end with set of three claws (one oppisite the other two), attached directly to the lower leg bones. One of the more unusual traits of the Hipsvin, is that the placement of their eyes, with a single pair on their lower jaw, and a second pair on their upper jaw. While placement does not matter as the brain itself is ona hump on the underbelly of the, this adds further proof to the theory that they have genetically manipulated themselves, as the optic nerves have acompletely different composition to the rest o fthe nervous system, allowing for a faster transmission of information between the eyes and the brain.

The vocal cords of the hipsvin are not entirely understood as to how they work, mostly to our lack of understanding of aucostics.Although this should be remedied at some point or another, nobody really wants to deal with adding a sense of sound.

The breathing holes are another suggestion of genetic manipulation on their part, with four pairs of breathing holes, one pair on each side, front and back. Each side is connected up to one of the two lungs, which are apparently linked together to pass air through the vocal areas.

The language of the hispvin is almost entirely tonal, and is often commented upon by other spiecies as one of the most beautiful things they have ever heard.

[jaeger115]

I'm not sure if a social insectoid species, like ants and wasps, can evolve its way to intelligence. Could it, or would the exoskeleton be too fragile to support a large enough brain?

[NecronLord]

I'm not sure if a social insectoid species, like ants and wasps, can evolve its way to intelligence. Could it, or would the exoskeleton be too fragile to support a large enough brain?

You could have one with a brain, somewhat like a termite queen. However without external interference such a thing would never evolve. Also its undelings could not obey it' they'd be too stupid.

[ArmorPierce]

Their homeworld is 45 percent water, and is on average hotter than Earth. Gravity is 80% heavier than Earth's.

If the Gravity is higher than that of Earth's they would more likely be of similar size or smaller than humans rather than taller.

[jaeger115]

You could have one with a brain, somewhat like a termite queen. However without external interference such a thing would never evolve. Also its undelings could not obey it' they'd be too stupid.

I take it isn't possible for an insectoid species to evolve bigger and bigger exoskeletons, complete with thicker and thicker legs, like the encounter suits the Shadows use? That would be uber-cool.

[NecronLord]

You could have one with a brain, somewhat like a termite queen. However without external interference such a thing would never evolve. Also its undelings could not obey it' they'd be too stupid.

I take it isn't possible for an insectoid species to evolve bigger and bigger exoskeletons, complete with thicker and thicker legs, like the encounter suits the Shadows use? That would be uber-cool.

For a start there would need to be something to kill off the smaller ones. Then they'd need to have considerably different materials making up their exo-skeletons. Then they'd need to develop more sophisticated organs. Barring someone gene-engineering them, its impossible really.

[jaeger115]

For a start there would need to be something to kill off the smaller ones. Then they'd need to have considerably different materials making up their exo-skeletons. Then they'd need to develop more sophisticated organs. Barring someone gene-engineering them, its impossible really.

All right.

*Runs to the gene lab and starts reviewing insect genes for the construction of a uber-bug*

[Sriad]

Sorry to say, but if he is looking for "realistic" alien societies, they cannot live in water. It just does not make sense to have an advanced culture without fire.

That sounds like a challange to me I'll see what I can do.

[Captain tycho]

The Frenonoth: the Frenonoth are a highly advanced and aggresive race.
They stand no more than 4 feet high, but have incredible agility and strength. Each of the males has 3 legs and 4 8 fingered arms, while the femals have four legs but only one arm. Frenonoths travel by lowering their bodies to the ground, using their powerful legs and lower arms to propel them across the terrain at speeds exceeding 80 km/h. They have no eyes, but rather a highly sensitve '6th sense' that no one can identify. [...]

How come the disparities between male and female biology? Evolution should take care of that a long time ago, you know... Taking from Earth's biology, it should be the females the stronger, they carry their brethen, they have to gather food for themselves and their offspring... We have many examples right here of how evolution works.

Well, it was just something I wrote up.
I suppose that maybe the males carry the babies?
Or maybe it's some freak disaster that caused the changes.

[Warspite]

Only if it were a recent disaster that induced genetic mutations, but all the females?
Evolution is a bitch, there wouldn't be that many generations, unless the females are extremely protected, like the ant queens, or bee queens...