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sunsetsands · 7 months ago

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Questionnaire Answers: Akada

General Anatomy

LIMBS

Akada have no legs, but they do have two arms, which are their primary manipulators. Even with how few fingers they have, their hands are extremely dextrous, much like an elephant's trunk or an octopus's tentacles. Also like these other animals, their arms, being made out of solid muscle, are incredibly strong, much moreso than you would probably expect by looking at them.

BODY COVERING

Most of an akada’s body is just plain skin. This skin has a bumpy, wrinkly texture, similar to Earth gastropods, and is covered by a thin layer of mucus. All that needs to be done to keep this skin healthy is regular bathing, just like what humans do.

They also have their shells, which have a similar chemical composition to silicate stone, but are fully organic. These shells must frequently be polished in the same way we humans brush our teeth, or else they may soften or become stained.

HABITAT AND ADAPTATIONS

Akada are terrestrial, mostly living in the tropical areas of their planet where their species originated. They have since spread out to the rest of the world, though they tend to avoid overly cold regions, only ever going there for more temporary visits like vacations or research excursions.

Similarly to melanin in humans, the pink pigmentation in their skin helps block out UV radiation, which there is a lot of in equatorial areas. Further north or south, populations of akada tend to have less of this pigment, leading to a more purpley or bluish coloration.

Fun fact: The above image was created in MS Paint, whereas all of the others were made in procreate. This is because I created it during the third revision of this post and didn't feel like going through the process of uploading any more photos from my phone onto my computer. Please excuse the general bad quality.

TEMPERATURE HOMEOSTASIS

Akada do not have the ability to regulate their internal body temperature. Instead, they use technology, such as clothing, heaters, or humidifiers to maintain their ideal hot, humid conditions or just live in areas that are always like that, such as tropical marshes and rainforests.

EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY

The creature on the left is the closest extant relative of akada. It is descended from the same social burrowing species as akada are, but unlike their cousins, never emerged above ground. As such, their bodies are built for a digging-centric lifestyle. For example, their flatter bodies are better for fitting through small crevices, and their paddle-like arms are better for tunneling through dirt. The chemical composition of their shells is also a bit different, being more similar to limestone than silicate, a difference owed to a slightly different diet. In terms of intelligence, they do have more brainpower than most creatures, but quite to the point where they can be considered sapient, being more comparable to a chimpanzee than a human.

The creature on the right is an extinct ancestor species to akada which had only recently moved from an underground habitat to the surface. While their bodies were very different, having lower heads and shorter arms, their brains were more or less the same as their modern counterparts, being capable of complex language, originally used to coordinate movement through and creation of tunnels, creative problem solving, which helped protect their soft, vulnerable bodies from predators, and abstract thought, which they used to just appreciate the beauty of the world whenever they had a moment of free time.

NECESSARY RESOURCES

Akada require a lot of water to survive, as their skin loses moisture very quickly. Most of this water is consumed through drinking, though some can also just be absorbed through the skin.

Additionally, due to the composition of their shells, they need to consume high amounts of calcium and silicon to stay healthy. What exactly they eat in order to meet this need will be described in more detail further down.

COMMON MUTATIONS

A common mutation akada can have is the formation of patterns on their shells. These patterns are the result of minerals not being evenly distributed throughout the shell during its formation, the same way certain stones can have colorful bands in them.

There are many different patterns that can form depending on how exactly the minerals are distributed. Below are four examples, though there are many more than this.

INJURIES AND HEALING

One of the most common injuries an akada can incur is a broken shell. Due to the size of the shell, it can take a while for any cracks to heal, but it doesn't do much to limit their mobility, so they can still live life fairly normally in the meantime.

Their soft parts, however, are much more easily healed, thanks to their powerful regenerative abilities. They can regrow any lost body part within a matter of weeks, no matter what part or how much they lose, though the regenerated flesh will always come back scarred and discolored. After the first regeneration, that particular part of the body will be a bit harder to grow back, a fact that will stack with each subsequent injury. It takes about five or six losses for a body part to become fully unregeneratable.

If you're wondering, that white circle is a nerve cord, not a bone. Akada do not have bones.

Senses

SENSES

Akada have all of the same senses that humans have, but rely a lot more on smell and vibration detection. This is a holdover from their days as a burrowing species, where sight wasn't as important to being able to tell where they were going. Their sight is not as good as that of humans, with most akada being at least a little bit nearsighted, but they do have corrective lenses they can use to make seeing things easier.

Movement

MOVEMENT METHODS

Akada move by slithering on the ground. It's slow and doesn't offer them a lot of agility, but they can do it for long periods of time without getting tired.

Because this is so slow, they often make use of vehicles to get from place to place. Individual akada often use small scooters or hoverboards to navigate streets more quickly than they could on foot, while groups will travel around in bullet trains or carts pulled by animals. Blimps are also quite popular, even with how slowly they move, as akada tend to have higher tolerance for long travel times than humans. Their slow movement and long lifespans make them naturally very patient.

Reproduction and Lifecycle

SEXES

By default, akada have both male and female reproductive organs. As such, most societies have no conception of gender, and the ones that do base their genders off of something non-sex-related, such as occupation or political ranking. It is possible for imperfect (male only/female only) akada to be born, but they are the exception rather than the norm, and this does not have any bearing on their gender identity.

COURTSHIP AND PARTNERSHIP

Akada attract mates through a method commonly known to humans as "asking politely". Typically, akada will form couples of three, all of which have the same roles and responsibilities, although tasks will typically be split between them for extra efficiency. Courtship is a mutual arrangement, and all participants must consent for it to become official.

BEAUTY STANDARDS

Things like shell hygiene, eyestalk length, and physical strength are taken into consideration when judging the attractiveness of others. Shell hygiene especially is seen as important, considering how immediately obvious any blemishes will be. Outside of that, it's hard to describe anything in exact detail, since beauty fads come and go about as frequently as they do on Earth, and often make just as little sense.

LIFESPAN

Akada live, on average, for about 120 Earth years/200 Almud years, at least with current medical technology. Future life expectancies will likely be much longer.

CHILDBIRTH AND CHILDCARE

Akada hatch from small eggs incubated in pools of warm water. In the early days of the species, these pools would usually be ponds or lakes, but in modern times, most groups use artificial vats.

Very little care is put into the aquatic larvae, which lack consciousnesses and are as a result not yet seen as people. Many of these larvae will die from either starvation or being eaten by other larvae, so only the largest and strongest will be able to metamorphose and emerge. Once they emerge from the water, however, younglings are pampered, raised with the help of the entire community, lasting from emergence until adulthood, with the town acting like an immense but ever-caring family. In short, akada use r-selection for their newborn young and K-selection for any that survive past infancy.

After emerging from the water, there are a few more changes that an akada's body will go through as they age, primarily just an increase in size and the enlongthenizing of their proportions. Outside of that, their shells also become harder and more deeply segmented, starting out as a smooth sheet of cartilage and becoming six fully distinct stony segments by mid-adolescence. The deepening of these grooves is often considered a sign that an akada is coming of age.

SEXUALITY

Nonreproductive sex between members of couples is common and expected. It is considered somewhat unusual for an akada to not have ever had sex, but it is not as frowned upon as it is among humans, since the more group-based society structure means less pressure is placed on the individual to produce offspring.

Diet and Foodchain

DIET

Akada are herbivores, primarily eating fruit, roots, and mold. They may also eat the discarded shells of clamlike creatures that wash up on shores as a way of supplementing more calcium into their diet, though this is frowned upon in some cultures, where the idea of eating any part of any animal is very taboo.

One important source of minerals is a crop called sukolo (or at least, that’s its name in the only language I’ve bothered creating so far), a sort of hard, dusty, mold-like saprotroph that grows in tall pillars. It has the texture of chalk and the flavor of drywall, but supplies so much nutritional value that it remains a cornerstone of most akada's diets regardless.

When this isn't enough to meet their mineral intake needs, some akada will just straight up eat rocks and crystals. Their teeth are strong enough to make this not impossible, though it's hardly a pleasant process. Condiments may be used to alleviate the process.

EATING HABITS

In most cultures, food is consumed in small portions at irregular intervals. There are no standardized times where one is expected to eat, nor is there any conception of “early day” or “late day” foods the same way we associate certain types of food with breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert.

PREDATORS

As large herbivores, there are many predators that occasionally attempt to prey on akada. This is, understandably, something that akada are not huge fans of, so they have developed several ways of fighting back. Many cities are encased in walls too tall for the predators to get past or are equipped with turrets to shoot them with pellets as a nonlethal deterrent. Other groups have attempted to drive their predator species to extinction, mostly unsuccessfully. Most of the time, though, they just avoid areas known to have predators present or use repellent spray to get them to leave them alone.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER ORGANISMS

There are a handful of small parasites that may infect akada, such as digestive endoparasites or worms that burrow through their shells. All of these creatures are just considered to be mild annoyances, and many treatments are available to get rid of them.

On a larger scale, several entire ecosystems are reliant on the presence of akada-built structures, just like how cities on Earth have become havens for certain species. These urban ecosystems are even more complex than their Earthen equivalents, as most large Almudian cities being built primarily from clay means plants are able to grow on and around them uninhibited, providing many more areas for creatures to make their homes.

Body Rhythms

SLEEP

Similar to their eating habits, rather than having one long period of sleep at one specific time of day, akada have several short naps throughout the day. A side effect of this is that the scheduling for most other parts of their lives, such as work, are very nonstandardized, since there’s no possible time that could work for everyone. People are just allowed to customize their work schedules to best fit their sleep schedule (or lack thereof).

Communication

LANGUAGE

Akada, like humans, communicate mostly through vocalizations, though some cultures rely more on bodily movements or other nonverbal cues. A few settlements use exclusively nonverbal signing as language, mainly extremely cold/dry areas where their faces are too heavily covered up to speak.

BODY LANGUAGE

Most akada body language is in some way based around part of their body recoiling/retracting inwards or stretching outwards. This is especially noticeable in any fear/surprise-based expressions, where their entire heads may compress inward. Other behaviors include arm gesticulation, antenna wiggling, mouth scrunching, and neck lowering/raising. I have not yet mapped out exactly what these gestures mean, but I'll get around to it eventually. Maybe. Hopefully.

Society

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Akada are very sociable and tend to live in intricately interconnected communities. These communities range wildly in size, with smaller ones having only a few dozen akada and larger ones having tens of thousands. The larger a group is, the less intimate they are, but there's always some degree of connection.

Most of the work done by an akada is done for the sake of their community. They are naturally inclined to put others' needs before their own, and any purely selfish act done at the expense of others is immediately shamed.

There are no strictly-defined nations on Almud in the same way there are on Earth. Cultural associations, trade routes, and political alliances may tie smaller collections of cities together, but they aren’t surrounded by borders. Territorialism between groups is low to nonexistent.

DISPUTES

Due to how slowly they move, akada lack the athleticism required for any sort of large-scale war, leaving diplomacy as the only viable option. When a dispute occurs, long discussions will be held in order to find the outcome that would best benefit everyone involved. These discussions have a tendency to move along at a snail's pace, though.

If battles do happen, they are performed either entirely with ranged weapons or on the back of Almud’s closest equivalent to a horse. Combat such as this has become increasingly rare in recent history.

IN-GROUP/OUT-GROUP MENTALITY

Akada are typically more welcoming of outsiders than humans, thanks in part to the aforementioned intrinsic drive to help and be kind to others, but they aren't immune to bias by any means. Exactly how prone to bigotry akada are varies between different regions of the globe. Generally, societies with an abundance of resources, like those near the equator, are typically more accepting, since they have less reason to push away others, while far north or far south groups tend to be slightly more paranoid and xenophobic. These are not universal by any means, however.

BONDING

Akada live very community-oriented lives, which necessitates forming strong bonds with others. There is a wide variety of types of bonds they may form, encompassing really any type of connection you can think of a human forming on Earth, like distant family bonds with townspeople, closer family bonds with those they spend most of their time with, friendships with people from other towns, romantic bonds with mates, and associations with coworkers. All of this leads to day-to-day life being very dynamic and complex.

SENSE OF IDENTITY

Most of an akada's sense of identity comes from which town they reside in. As mentioned before, a single settlement of akada is functionally a massive family, so the place they grow up has a huge impact on how they act and view the world around them.

The most widespread naming convention in akada society is one or two given names, then a surname denoting their hometown. For example, if an akada was named Talo Vozenalk, it would mean "Talo from the city of Vozena." The "-alk" suffix is typically used to denote residency.

DOMESTICATION

Akada have domesticated a wide range of creatures over their history, including large herbivores to pull carts, small carnivores to ward off pests, and a variety of docile animals kept as pets.

Of these pets, one of the most popular is the zhay (again, name in the one currently existing language), an eel-like creature in the same order as akada. Zhays were originally domesticated to scare off aquatic predators and keep pests out of lake farms. They fill a similar societal role to dogs, sometimes being considered as much of a part of the family/community as an akada would be.

ART

The artform given the most importance in most cultures is ceramics and clay sculptures. Clay, as a whole, plays a very important role in Almudian society, being not just the material most buildings are built out of, but the medium of the early writing styles most modern scripts are derived from.

There are clay sculptures dating back to the earliest days of akada civilization, depicting all sorts of things, mostly culturally significant animals and historical figures. A good chunk of archaeological information about early societies comes from these sculptures.

Modern sculptures tend to take more abstract forms. There have been innumerable art movements over the years, each with their own substyles and subsubstyles, as well as snobs proclaiming their preferred style to be better than all of the others. These sorts of debates get heated very quickly.

That's all there is to say for this questionnaire. It took a very long time to fill all of this out, so I hope that it was worth reading.

Alien Questionnaire - A Biological Perspective

A while ago, somebody linked me a very comprehensive worldbuilding questionnaire. For most aspects of a fictional society, it was great, but I noticed it assumed that anyone using it was making up a fictional human society, or at least a society of beings very similar to humans. As such, there was almost nothing in the biology department, which to me is one of the best parts! Thus, this questionnaire was born.

These questions are designed to help people worldbuild from a biological foundation. As such, the questionnaire only touches lightly on other aspects of a fictional society, and is more of a jumping off point. I wrote it with the aim of using it to develop aliens, but it should be suitable for any project with non-humanoid species, such as sapient terrestrial animals.

Have fun! I'd love to see your answers :)

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General Anatomy How many limbs do they have? Do they have limbs at all?

What are their primary manipulators? Where are they located? How does this affect their tool use, building ability, etc?

What kind of body covering do they have, e.g. hair, scales, feathers? How do they clean it? Do they shed this covering constantly, or all at once at certain times?

Can they maintain a constant body temperature? If not, how do they deal with changing environmental temperatures?

What kind of habitat do they live in? Both specific habitat, and broader such as on land vs in water.

What adaptations do they have for living in this habitat?

What kind of creature did they evolve from?

What are the similarities and differences to their closest living relatives?

What resource(s) is the most necessary and urgent for them? E.g. for many animals, but not all, it’s water.

What are some common mutations? E.g. eye colours, ability to digest lactose in humans.

What injuries or illnesses are considered disabling?

How is their healing ability? Can they regenerate? If they can, is that limited to certain body parts or a certain number of times?

Senses What senses do they have? E.g. sight, smell, electroreception, etc.

How good are those senses?

Which of their sense/s do they use the most in everyday life?

How might this choice of sense impact the way they interact with the world?

Can they detect things that Earth creatures cannot? If yes, how and why?

Movement How do they move? Do they walk, crawl, fly, etc?

If they have multiple modes of movement, which is preferred, and why?

Which part/s of their body do they use to move?

What is their speed and endurance like?

How agile are they?

Do they rely mainly on their own bodies for travel, or do they use pack animals and machines?

How often do they move around? Are they mainly sedentary, do they move a lot within a set area, do they migrate, etc?

Do they have different levels of mobility depending on age, sex, or other biological group? E.g. young barnacles are able to swim, while adults are anchored permanently to a surface.

Reproduction and Lifecycle How many sexes are there?

Are there differences between the sexes (ignoring the reproductive system)?

Are there different castes, such as in honeybees or naked mole rats? If so, what is the function of each caste?

Are differences in sex or caste used to justify discrimination or hierarchy? How might these ideas differ in different populations?

Do they have a concept of gender? If so, is gender affected by sex, caste, or some other factor?

How do they attract a mate? Do they release a chemical into the air, do an elaborate display, etc?

Does one individual try to actively woo another, or is courtship more mutual?

What do they find attractive in members of the same species?

What is the usual reproductive partnership? E.g. two individuals, one main reproducing individual with a harem, no set partner, etc.

How long do they live?

How are young brought into the world? Live birth, eggs, spores, etc?

Is producing young a painful, dangerous process, or is it easy?

How much parental investment is there? Are there many young with little investment, or few young with a lot of investment (r vs K strategy)? Or is it somewhere in the middle?

How many offspring are produced at a time? Think about how attitudes towards children may differ between a species that produces one or two, and a species that produces dozens or even hundreds at a time.

How do they grow? Are they born looking like miniature adults, gradually growing bigger? Do they have specific phases of high growth, like puberty? Do they have a larval phase, metamorphosis?

How self-sufficient are they as young? Can they move around and feed themselves as soon as they are born? Do they require parental care?

What is the usual structure of childcare? Single or multiple parents/related individuals? Communally raised?

Is sex purely for reproduction, or does it serve other purposes?

What kind of sexuality is considered the norm? This doesn’t just refer to same/other sex pairings, but the culture around sex in general.

Diet and Foodchain What is their diet? Are they carnivores, omnivores, frugivores, insectivores, etc?

Do they feed off an unusual source, for example rocks, metals, or (in appropriate settings) something like magic or souls?

What physical adaptations do they have for this diet?

Is their diet very restricted, or can they have a wide range of foods?

How often do they eat? What is the culture around mealtimes, if any?

Are they prey for other organisms? For each other?

If they are, how do they deal with it? Do they fight back, have barriers, or do they accept it as a part of life?

If they are hunters themselves, what is their attitude to killing other organisms? Are they respectful? Prideful of their kill? Is it completely trivial?

If they are hunters, how do they hunt? Are they solitary or packhunters? Are certain members of the group designated to hunt?

Are the results of foraging or hunting shared, or is it everyone for themself?

Are they parasitic, parasitised, or in a symbiotic relationship with any other organisms?

Body Rhythms How often do they sleep?

What time of the day are they most active? Are they nocturnal, diurnal, crepuscular?

Do they generally sleep for one long period a day, multiple shorter periods throughout, or something in between?

Do they sleep to cope with extreme temperatures or bad conditions, i.e. hibernate or aestivate?

Do they have any biological processes that disrupt their life e.g. moulting, reproductive cycles, etc?

If yes, how does their society accommodate for these processes? Does it accommodate them at all?

Communication What is their main method of communication? Sound, visuals, scent, etc? Think about their main sense and how this would affect communication.

What is their body language like? What small moving parts might aid their body language?

If they have multiple methods of communication, are they all given equal weight, or is one considered higher than others?

Society How sociable are they?

If social, what is the usual social structure?

Are there hierarchies? How strict or relaxed are the roles?

How are disputes usually settled? Is it more common to be violent or appease the other party?

If not social, what is the reaction to being with other individuals? Do they become aggressive or stressed? Do they tolerate each other?

What is the usual size of a community? Do they have communities at all?

Do they have an in-group vs out-group mentality? If so, how strong is it? This generally relates to how scarce or plentiful resources were during their evolution, and how territorial their ancestors were.

What kind of bonds do they form?

On the spectrum of individualistic to community-oriented, where do they fall?

Do they have a strong sense of personal identity? Think about how this might tie in with the previous question.

What are the main things they derive identity from? Occupation, gender, family ties, etc?

Do they have names? If yes, how are these names formed? Are they given by another party or chosen by the individual?

Have they domesticated any creatures? If so, what do they use these creatures for?

Do they have any unusual relationships with other creatures on their planet (beyond predation, parasitism or mutualism)?

Do they produce art? What are their main forms of artistic expression? Think about how this will be linked to their main sense(s), communication method, and/or primary manipulators.

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GLOSSARY Primary manipulator: Main body part used to manipulate objects, e.g. hands in humans, trunks in elephants, feet in parrots.

Sedentary: Inactive, staying in the same place.

Caste (reproductive): A group within a species with differences in body type and reproductive ability.

Symbiosis/Mutualism: Interactions where both parties benefit, e.g. cleaner fish getting a meal in exchange for picking irritating parasites off larger fish.

Aestivate: To become inactive during hot or dry periods, usually involving being sealed in mucus or soil e.g. lungfish, snails.

Reproductive cycle: Regular hormone fluctuations that affect an animal’s fertility or attitude towards breeding. The cycles can range from months to years and can include things such as antler growth in male deer, heat cycles, and menstruation in humans.

#third try at posting this. hoping it actually works #worldbuilding #speculative biology #spec bio #alien #xenobiology #art #my art #akada #Almud

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