deinocheirus

[deinocheirus]

the new ocos are scary... they remind me of barn owl nestlings

I’m still messing around with them and I currently went to far and made them cute

[deinocheirus]

Oddly enough I don’t want to go too out there for them since the core idea is just that a talking bird qualifies as a dinosaur person within this setting. I just want to move away from them being strictly corvid-like since a) anything that corvid-like hadn’t evolve yet when the K-Pg meteor hit , and b) there’s so many people doing cool things with intelligent crows I don’t think my take is adding much to the idea.

Making them some sort of Australave is fun cause they would still just be a 100% modern bird, but one in a setting where they make up only a small minority of the birds around. Instead of evolving into falcons and parrots and songbirds the group instead they ended up as a minor group of birds that includes a sapient parrot-magpie thing

The enantiornithine option appeals to me specifically because they are pretty overlooked as both their own group as well as proper “dinosaurs”. Like we all know birds are dinosaurs but Mesozoic birds are largely seen as just a stepping stone to modern birds and not as weird extinct animals of their own. From the looks of it enantiornithines were quite different from (most) modern birds, like pterosaurs and bush turkeys they hatch nearly flight ready and had a slower rate of development.

Trying to work on whatever sort of bird Daws are, since I think more can be done with them besides having them crowish. On one hand making them a “normal” parrot-magpie thing in a setting where neoaves are a minority of birds is fun, on the other hand weird toothy Mesozoic birds are underrated. The “antenna” are staying either way.

[deinocheirus]

Trying to work on whatever sort of bird Daws are, since I think more can be done with them besides having them crowish. On one hand making them a “normal” parrot-magpie thing in a setting where neoaves are a minority of birds is fun, on the other hand weird toothy Mesozoic birds are underrated. The “antenna” are staying either way.

[deinocheirus]

There's no more submit button so I must do it this way @dimetrodone

[deinocheirus]

Thinking about The Aviary again. If I revisit it there are several species I would want to tweak their designs a fair bit

[deinocheirus]

Forgot a very special "species" from this chart.

The views on sapient AI vary significantly across species cultures and individual. Are they people? Are they an extension of the species that created them or are they a new species of their own. Are they actually many unique species considering they arose several times rather then from a single ancestor. Is a massive superintelligence its own species and an endling of its kind. Do AIs have souls and if so can they go to hell?

[deinocheirus]

@lycheeboy

1) They naturally adept at mimicking sounds, and are physically capable of speaking the vocal language of other species to a degree unmatched by any other. They are also fairly quick to pick up new languages compared to humans and most other species

2) A common and unfortunate effect of first contact with pre industrial species and rapid introduction of global communication and tech is language extinction. Often only a handful of languages either through earliest contacted or population size spread rapidly while the vast majory of languages dwindle.

3) Their reputation as a sapient babelfish has made them a more personable and intelligent alternative to algorithmic translators and a more accessible and affordable option then a sapient AI (they demand costly payment). Being small fragile people from a relatively resource poor homeworld, communication jobs are the most accessible jobs to them in mixed species facilities and as a result tend to be have more opportunities if they learn several alien languages.

4) They were one of the first species contacted by the Snamel space community and as a result they were far more careless and inclined to interventionist policies dealing with aliens. There happened to be a political movement at the time to make a “universal” lingua franca on top of the complexities and inability to transcribe the Raptor languages in written form. Many traditonalist Snamels tend to to view this as a just tragic inevitability , but a growing number of Raptors and Snamels alike view it as at least partially the result of of intentional negligence and active push towards language replacement on the Snamel’s part

Still some languages of their own now exist, both languages originating from aliens that have evolved into “raptorized” dialects and Raptor languages that have been heavily “alienized”. “Our Talk” is a politically motivated constructive language developed on the last century from fragments of the remaining living raptor languages and fragmentary knowledge of extinct ones, to make something purely Raptor

A while ago on discord people were talking about the terms their alien species had for each other in their own languages, and i took a rough stab at it....Which then made me fall down a rabbit hole of thinking about the actual languages these would be from, since none of these guys are monolinguistic and there would have to be a reason these languages might be seen as a "default" language of a species.

(The animal names some species name each other after are "translated" loosely comparable Earth life for the sake of brevity)

Ramblings on the languages these are for under the cut.

Human: English. (many of these names are works in progress and might be changed later)

Snamel: Ossgtat. One of the languages spoken by early snamel space colonists. While spoken ossgtat eventually evolved into new languages or died off across planetary colonies, the ancient form of the language remains relevant as both a religious and scientific language (comparable to how humans use lain), as well as has had many failed pushes to be a species wide lingua franca

The most common term for jawfish is not derived from ancient Ossgtat, but rather is a loanword of the colony that first made contact with them.

Jawfish: Wossoss. The most commonly spoken language of the whistler jawfish subspecies. While the Clicker subspecies has four times the population then the Whistlers, they lack a language as widely used as wossoss.

The "deformed" suffix initially on contact was used to refer specifically to physical deformity, but as centuries pass has evolved to refer to things that are generally strange or unworldly.

Tandem: A'awa. While only the 12th most spoken language for the species, the A'awa language is significant in being the one spoken by the population of first contact, and as a result has become the language of science and technology and a frequent source of loan words in other languages. Several languages adopt A'awag words to describe alien beings or concepts.

Raptor: "Our Talk" a constructed language made centuries after first contact. The exceptional vocal mimicry of the species has resulted in alien languages being more commonly spoken amongst Raptors then their own languages, and those that do remain of theirs have radically changed from alien influence.

Our Talk was born out of an isolationist movement, constructed out of the chunks of various dialects in an attempt to make a new "purely raptor" language. Their terms for alien species are onomatopoeias, "pohum" for humans is pronounced in particularly human-like inflection.

Canary: Gsiii. While neither the most common language or the language of the Canaries first contact was attempted with The Gsiii empire ended up the first canary nation to fully embrace alien diplomacy and is the most common language of canaries off homeworld. While not universal, gsiiik terminology has spread to several other major languages, to the point that now the gsiiik word "legged" has lost its association with limbs and has evolved into the term for aliens in general.

Considering canaries are both small and blind, it is not surprising that the number of legs their giant alien visitors have is our most noteworthy feature. Interacting with a human being is usually like interacting with a massive pairs of legs.

Trunkfish: Patriarch speech. The singular vocal language used by males of the entire species and a lingua franca (something achievable when your entire species resides in a body of water the size of Lake Erie). Females and subadults communicate in a diverse array of languages made up of weak electric pulse.

"Demon" is a translation of a broad group of supernatural beings in trunkfish beliefs that are neither moral nor divine in nature that may be cruel or benevolent, and might also be translated as "spirit" or "fairy". Some aliens are given descriptive names, but others are directly named after preexisting folkloric creatures. Humans specifically are named after a sort of demonic tree believed to both cause or ward off mudslides.

Many trunkfish still see aliens as literal supernatural beings, and envision space travel and other planets as just various fairy worlds and hells that are already a part of their cosmology.

Grex: "Xenology dialect". The grex languages are constructed out of a small fixed pool of instinctive calls known at birth, however these calls can be both altered and used as syllables or phonemes in larger learnt words.

Dialects of grex languages often form around different professions and fields of research, "Anti-People" depending on one's dialect or context and pronunciation could mean anything from an alien, a misanthrope, a murderer, a fictional character, or a type of basket.

Holophant: Ocean script. The civilization of first contact has a plethora of languages signed, written, danced, and tactilely used. The terms for alien species in their signed languages tend to not be translatable, largely made up of modified or entirely new unique single signs.

The most common words for aliens in general is just the sign for animal with a black flash of their chromatophores, as opposed to the neutral dappled markings used for animals in general. In written form this is usually written as either "black" or "night" animals, in reference to coming from the night sky (space)

"Ocean script" is a logographic written language and one of the two core writing systems of the region. Here aliens are described with more readily translatable compound words.

[deinocheirus]

A while ago on discord people were talking about the terms their alien species had for each other in their own languages, and i took a rough stab at it....Which then made me fall down a rabbit hole of thinking about the actual languages these would be from, since none of these guys are monolinguistic and there would have to be a reason these languages might be seen as a "default" language of a species.

(The animal names some species name each other after are "translated" loosely comparable Earth life for the sake of brevity)

Ramblings on the languages these are for under the cut.

Human: English. (many of these names are works in progress and might be changed later)

Snamel: Ossgtat. One of the languages spoken by early snamel space colonists. While spoken ossgtat eventually evolved into new languages or died off across planetary colonies, the ancient form of the language remains relevant as both a religious and scientific language (comparable to how humans use lain), as well as has had many failed pushes to be a species wide lingua franca

The most common term for jawfish is not derived from ancient Ossgtat, but rather is a loanword of the colony that first made contact with them.

Jawfish: Wossoss. The most commonly spoken language of the whistler jawfish subspecies. While the Clicker subspecies has four times the population then the Whistlers, they lack a language as widely used as wossoss.

The "deformed" suffix initially on contact was used to refer specifically to physical deformity, but as centuries pass has evolved to refer to things that are generally strange or unworldly.

Tandem: A'awa. While only the 12th most spoken language for the species, the A'awa language is significant in being the one spoken by the population of first contact, and as a result has become the language of science and technology and a frequent source of loan words in other languages. Several languages adopt A'awag words to describe alien beings or concepts.

Raptor: "Our Talk" a constructed language made centuries after first contact. The exceptional vocal mimicry of the species has resulted in alien languages being more commonly spoken amongst Raptors then their own languages, and those that do remain of theirs have radically changed from alien influence.

Our Talk was born out of an isolationist movement, constructed out of the chunks of various dialects in an attempt to make a new "purely raptor" language. Their terms for alien species are onomatopoeias, "pohum" for humans is pronounced in particularly human-like inflection.

Canary: Gsiii. While neither the most common language or the language of the Canaries first contact was attempted with The Gsiii empire ended up the first canary nation to fully embrace alien diplomacy and is the most common language of canaries off homeworld. While not universal, gsiiik terminology has spread to several other major languages, to the point that now the gsiiik word "legged" has lost its association with limbs and has evolved into the term for aliens in general.

Considering canaries are both small and blind, it is not surprising that the number of legs their giant alien visitors have is our most noteworthy feature. Interacting with a human being is usually like interacting with a massive pairs of legs.

Trunkfish: Patriarch speech. The singular vocal language used by males of the entire species and a lingua franca (something achievable when your entire species resides in a body of water the size of Lake Erie). Females and subadults communicate in a diverse array of languages made up of weak electric pulse.

"Demon" is a translation of a broad group of supernatural beings in trunkfish beliefs that are neither moral nor divine in nature that may be cruel or benevolent, and might also be translated as "spirit" or "fairy". Some aliens are given descriptive names, but others are directly named after preexisting folkloric creatures. Humans specifically are named after a sort of demonic tree believed to both cause or ward off mudslides.

Many trunkfish still see aliens as literal supernatural beings, and envision space travel and other planets as just various fairy worlds and hells that are already a part of their cosmology.

Grex: "Xenology dialect". The grex languages are constructed out of a small fixed pool of instinctive calls known at birth, however these calls can be both altered and used as syllables or phonemes in larger learnt words.

Dialects of grex languages often form around different professions and fields of research, "Anti-People" depending on one's dialect or context and pronunciation could mean anything from an alien, a misanthrope, a murderer, a fictional character, or a type of basket.

Holophant: Ocean script. The civilization of first contact has a plethora of languages signed, written, danced, and tactilely used. The terms for alien species in their signed languages tend to not be translatable, largely made up of modified or entirely new unique single signs.

The most common words for aliens in general is just the sign for animal with a black flash of their chromatophores, as opposed to the neutral dappled markings used for animals in general. In written form this is usually written as either "black" or "night" animals, in reference to coming from the night sky (space)

"Ocean script" is a logographic written language and one of the two core writing systems of the region. Here aliens are described with more readily translatable compound words.

[deinocheirus]

@dimetrodone 's Belette

[deinocheirus]

The “Treebugs”, whose designs are still subject to some tinkering right now.

The grex emerged from the hybridization of two moderately related “flowerfly” species approximately ~7200 years ago, shockingly recent compared to the evolutionary history of other species. Like other flowerflies the Grex themselves are only the female gametophytes of their species, their society is heavily built on the maintainence and protection of their large sporophyte “mother trees” as well as their immobile gametophyte males

Despite centuries of contact the species’ cultures are among the most impenetrable and poorly understood. Partly from a lack of clear centralization, the closest thing analogous to government are networks of couriers, communication and distribution “guilds” in their society bridging their various industries. Partly from individuals short lifespan results in quick cultural shifts( traditionally at around 15 years of age they become sexually reproductive and die, advances in medicine have extended their lifespan into their 20s).

Despite their keen senses of hearing, grex languages are typically signed using the position and movement of their modified antenna-like forewings. Relying on echolocation at night and in their often unlit building interiors, the grex just as often hear their “visual” language as much as see it.

[deinocheirus]

It’s hard to say. Technological development of different species isn’t linear, the species that have reached “space age” are all quite different from one another with very different histories, only sharing in common of reaching a point of rapid technological development.

Snamels and Holophants both have a very very long literary history, things like agriculture and written record keeping has been around for well over 40,000 years in both species (tho only known in scattered remains now). Based on archeological discoveries it seems Holophants were industrialized at one point ~15,000 years ago but were discovered at a point vaguely comparable to Earth’s renaissance in technology. Holophants also have a very large written and “oral” body of knowledge but some of it is lost, and a lot of it is not attested or available to the galactic community yet.

The Grex, the other space faring species known, went from “Neolithic” to setting up colonies on neighbouring planet at a breakneck speed within only 3000 or so years. Their recorded history is vast, but what their body of knowledge gains in thorough record keeping and esoteric strangeness it lacks in narrative pazazz that tends to be more interesting for others species.

Among the other species contacted, one had a rich history but has fallen victim to censorship and revisionism upon the turbulent times they were contacted in, on top of further possibly censorship and revisionism post alien contact that is now taking years to untangle. One has a small body of art and knowledge stemming from the fact they are a species isolated in a body of water the size of Lake Erie. The other 3 contacted while having varied tech had no written language, all had extensive oral traditions that took a hit during the rapid influx of technology and information and the decline of many their languages.

@lycheeboy What aliens think of humans varies a lot, depending on the species or culture or just particular individual. Snamels are the oldest extant space faring species known and are the ones contacting other species, Holophants are the most recently contacted species whose general knowledge on aliens is currently broad and limited.

The broad strokes feelings on humans is that we are very gangly and tall (intimidatingly so for smaller species, just awkwardly so for larger ones). Some think we look ugly, a few think he actually look regal or elegant, most just think we look strange as much as any other alien does. Some aliens try to evo-psyche explain humanity’s fixation on height and building towers as us subconsciously yearning for our ancestral arboreal lifestyle. A lot of aliens like our funny head hair and think it’s amusing how much of a nudity taboo we have

Snamels have varied opinions on us. We were one of only two alien species Snamels have encountered that had any degree of space exploration and such intensive industrialization. Humans have one of the most detailed and well attested bodies of documented pre contact history and art of any known alien, which makes us a common curiosity amongst those who study alien culture. On the flip side while all species have messy histories, ours being so well documented is a bit of a disadvantage on our reputation. Sometimes we are admired as sophisticated and worthwhile allies, to being a planet of neurotic yahoos that Snamalkind ever so kindly “saved” from ourselves. We are an “acquired taste” to look at, and our cultural fixation on legally binding mate structures unpleasent to their own sensibilities.

Holophants mostly lump all aliens together and know little of the cultures of the various species. They find our (generally monogamous) pairbonding charming, and our striking physique and tendency to gesture with our arms and eye contact to communicate makes us seem more intense and perceptive then some other aliens come across, tho this is purely an anatomical bias of theirs. Our sexual dimorphism and comparatively strong social tendency to form hierarchies are “permissibly animal like”, aliens in general regardless tend to still be thought of as a strange society of talking animals from the sky.

[deinocheirus]

@lycheeboy What aliens think of humans varies a lot, depending on the species or culture or just particular individual. Snamels are the oldest extant space faring species known and are the ones contacting other species, Holophants are the most recently contacted species whose general knowledge on aliens is currently broad and limited.

The broad strokes feelings on humans is that we are very gangly and tall (intimidatingly so for smaller species, just awkwardly so for larger ones). Some think we look ugly, a few think he actually look regal or elegant, most just think we look strange as much as any other alien does. Some aliens try to evo-psyche explain humanity’s fixation on height and building towers as us subconsciously yearning for our ancestral arboreal lifestyle. A lot of aliens like our funny head hair and think it’s amusing how much of a nudity taboo we have

Snamels have varied opinions on us. We were one of only two alien species Snamels have encountered that had any degree of space exploration and such intensive industrialization. Humans have one of the most detailed and well attested bodies of documented pre contact history and art of any known alien, which makes us a common curiosity amongst those who study alien culture. On the flip side while all species have messy histories, ours being so well documented is a bit of a disadvantage on our reputation. Sometimes we are admired as sophisticated and worthwhile allies, to being a planet of neurotic yahoos that Snamalkind ever so kindly “saved” from ourselves. We are an “acquired taste” to look at, and our cultural fixation on legally binding mate structures unpleasent to their own sensibilities.

Holophants mostly lump all aliens together and know little of the cultures of the various species. They find our (generally monogamous) pairbonding charming, and our striking physique and tendency to gesture with our arms and eye contact to communicate makes us seem more intense and perceptive then some other aliens come across, tho this is purely an anatomical bias of theirs. Our sexual dimorphism and comparatively strong social tendency to form hierarchies are “permissibly animal like”, aliens in general regardless tend to still be thought of as a strange society of talking animals from the sky.

[deinocheirus]

I’ve barely drawn lately, but I have been thinking about different populations of snamels.

They have been space faring for Millennia, different colonies have varied looks from a combination of genetic drift and genetic modification to suit different words (or to make themselves look like rainbow sherbet)

[deinocheirus]

Over the past few days I've become very enamored with your blue moon concepts. Lots of very interesting stuff going on, it's really got me thinking a lot. It's also the name of my favorite beer, which is a nice plus.

The name "Blue Moon" is actually literal in this setting. The holophant homeworld has an uninhabited watery twin planet that is of interest to various parties as a potential colony world (despite how uh..dubious it is to establish a colony on another sapient species' moon...)

The downside of potentially living there is the two planets are mutually tidally locked and have a day/night cycle thats nearly a week long. Good news is solar and lunar eclipses are a daily occurance at certain times of the year if you live by the equator

[deinocheirus]

Art fight for @dimetrodone of the weird hydra Thuban.

[deinocheirus]

Continuation of this post of notes on alien sexuality with my other species. Oddly the Snamels and Holophants in the other post have some of the more “human-like” experiences with it physically and socially compared to the species here.

Sorry for the lack of names given on most of these guys, I’m not settled on most of them.

[deinocheirus]

After i made Tot i couldn't stop thinking about this until i made it

Failed their classes at dragon school

The handsome beauty brothers