#but there are other planets. there are other sapient races.

[flickering-nightfall]

just asking, what if an iterator possibly gets too hot or cold? What happens if they can’t get to safer temps with out outside forces? What if they can’t get to safer temps at all?

Do you mean superstructures or puppet-bound iterators? I'm sure superstructures have a lot of failsafes to deal with temperature fluctuations, mostly via processing water intake. They're living saunas! They probably have an incredible resistance to both hot and cold, as evidence shows.

I'll talk about puppets here, but if you meant superstructures, well... a lot of what I'll say here could apply to superstructures too.

(For puppet-bound iterators, I am referring to my AU CDSS)

For heat: Puppet-bound iterators, like their former superstructure bodies, run hot and need to stay hydrated. They rely on liquid coolant that runs throughout their bodies. Ruptures in the coolant system are one of their many common problems, but with medical aid, they're not too serious. Many cases are self-healing, or the rupture will seal itself off and reroute around the blockage - like with collateral circulation. Leaks into essential systems are more of a concern than the actual loss of coolant. As long as they stay cool and drink water while waiting to get fixed, they tend to be fine.

If they are stuck in a hot region and can't escape, they'll suffer from dehydration, heat stroke, fried components, damage to organic tissue, seizures... pretty much what you'd expect. As a superstructure, Moon probably suffered from all this leading up to her collapse.

For cold: They're fairly resistant for a few reasons. One is the antifreeze in coolant. Another is the heat that they naturally produce. I'm thinking they have silicone-based skin, which is very cold resistant. They have hemocyanin, which tends to function better in extreme cold than hemoglobin. (Hemocyanin can also work at hotter temperatures. I have like a whole essay about this that I still intend to post lol.) However, the puppets have been modified to have more flexible and sensitive skin - dexterity in exchange for some durability. They're more susceptible to the perception of cold than they would be if they were a still a superstructure. Many of them also dislike snowscapes on principle, because they've been freezing their decaying metal butts off for centuries by the time CDSS happens.

Iterators in both forms are very moist, so if it's cold past their limits, their mechanical components will freeze. And like with hypothermia in fully organic beings, prolonged time in extreme cold will lead to tissue death and organ failure. Superstructures with fractured exteriors (direct exposure of internal parts to the cold air) are especially susceptible to this.

Misc theory about superstructures: Moon's superstructure was able to stay intact into Saint's era because she collapsed straight down into the water, preserving most of her shape. The canyon water could have provided the pressure and circulation she needed in the absence of gravity cores, as well as protection against land pests and insulation against the cold. Remnant slag could have her generate excess heat as well, which would keep the water surrounding her unfrozen. In a way, dying like that could have helped her live longer?!

Thanks for the question anon, this was very fun :P

[foone]

We keep finding space stations, and we don't know why yet.

Most are in orbit around planets, but plenty more are orbiting moons, stars, the odd black hole, or just floating in deep space.

Their age varies, some are so old that just getting close enough to dock makes them shatter like glass, others are so recently constructed that the lights are still on and the reactors are still fueled. All are empty of any life or robots smarter than a roomba.

The ones orbiting planets are orbiting dead worlds, or living worlds where nothing on them is smart enough to launch a space station.

The stations in deep space are weirder. The most information came from the one by Epsilon Eridani. A massive installation, it had docking rings for hundreds of vessels, all empty. It was in remarkable shape for how old it was (from the unrepaired micrometeorite impacts, we estimate it has been abandoned for about 3000 years), so we were able to access a lot of information from its main computer. We found the coordinates of several home planets, and visited them all. All were dead, empty, or in one case, simply missing. The star was still there, the other uninhabitable planets mentioned in the databanks were there, but their homeworld? Gone. No debris or expanding gas cloud, it's just missing.

And that's the thing: if we found space stations along with abandoned ruins of ground-based installations, that'd make sense. If we met dozens of living races, amongst a few empty satellites of long dead races, that'd also be expected. But this is all the evidence we're not alone in the universe we've found.

We've sent probes to over half the stars in this galaxy and visited hundreds in crewed spacecraft, but the empty space stations are the only evidence of alien life. Every planet is either a sterile husk, a gas giant, or a vibrant living world with nothing smarter than a giraffe living on it. Oh, there's strange life forms of every kind! But none of them seem sapient, certainly not sapient enough to build a space station.

Where is everyone? We've been asking that question since we first understood the Drake Equation and the Fermi paradox, but the question has taken on a new form as we've gone to the stars and found endless empty houses in the sky.

It's the difference between looking at an empty desert and walking through an abandoned city. In both cases, there's a silent emptiness, but in the latter case, it seems to contain a sinister element. This place is empty, but it shouldn't be. Something made it empty, and we haven't found out why yet.

We keep looking, and keep listening to the echoes of our own footsteps in the silent habitats.

[iamthekaijuking]

Assorted Armored Core 6 thoughts

1: Iguazu as a character is just so fucking funny to me. Like here’s this pathetic little petty piece of shit who wants to be hot stuff but isn’t due to his own personal faults, and gets mad when he’s inevitably shown up. And then you come along and are better than him (which isn’t a high bar… I mean come on even his AC build is less than optimal) and for some reason that makes him lose his shit and now he hates you so much he’s willing to kill himself if it means killing you. Of all the people that broke him it was you, C4 621, Waltuh’s favorite little vegetable lobotomite. Michigan should have technically gotten that hatred out of him but no it’s you he hates.

2: I’ve seen some talk about what the “mealworms” the rubiconians eat are, and a lot of people think they’re tardigrades mutated by Coral, but I’d have to disagree. Coral isn’t a mutative substance, it’s just some anaerobic alien algae that explodes real good and can act like a supercomputer when in groups. It also might have a biochemistry toxic to humans since it can get us high and areas exposed to coral explosions are contaminated in some way, but it’s never been stated to directly tamper with genes. The anatomy of the mealworms also doesn’t match tardigrades that well and they only have a passing resemblance to them (their mouth anatomy is closer to that of a lamprey or hagfish, and they have too many legs). I think the mealworms might instead be alien fauna, but ones not native to rubicon that were instead brought in as livestock. Why not native to rubicon? Well the only other multicellular organisms we see in game are trees and grass that were almost certainly bought to rubicon by humans, and while rubicon 3 seems to be within the Goldilocks zone from its sun it’s definitely on the farther end of the spectrum. Every area (aside from grid, Xylem, underground, and atmospheric areas) has snow, except for where the Strider is seen, which is a desert. But desert doesn’t equal heat, it just means it’s a very dry place. Rubicon 3 might also not have a moon and we don’t know anything about its magnetosphere. Basically what I’m trying to say that rubicon 3 is a pretty tough place to live, and while multicellular life isn’t an impossibly given its conditions, it seems that the planet might only have microbial life.

3: A sort of follow up to the mealworm thing, but it seems like in the AC 6 universe humanity has discovered alien life, but never sapient ones. Any race other than humans is never mentioned, and coral is of human interest not because it’s an alien organism, but because it can act as a superfuel. Mealworms are likely also aliens. If this is all true then Coral might be the first truly sapient race encountered by humanity… and we’ve been using it as fuel and already almost rendered it extinct once… oops.

[charlesoberonn]

I had a concept for a Star Trek pastiche/homage series that I’m probably never gonna use, so I’m gonna share it here.

it’s called EarthSpace.

Up until 20 years ago, humanity thought it was alone in the universe. We explored the solar system, built space habitats and colonized the nearby planets. We peered deep into the universe to find signs of other life and found none. Until one day we found plenty, all around us.

As it turns out, the Solar System has been under the protection of an alien race called the Grey for thousands of years, hiding us from the outer cosmos and hiding the outer cosmos from us. Thousands of other inhabited systems with sapient species were in the same boat as us, until one day the Greys and most of their technology vanished.

Thus began the era of interstellar exploration. Thousands of species who previously thought they were alone began contacting one another and reverse engineering Grey technology. Humanity has been late to the party, the revelation having caused major societal turmoil. At the end of which a fragile unified government of all mankind emerged. That government established the EarthSpace Company to set out into the wider galaxy to explore, negotiate, make cultural exchanges, and represent the human race to the interstellar community.

In addition to contact with aliens and sci-fi adventures, the crew of EarthSpace’s flagship the Vespucci will also explore the ruins left behind by the Grey to find out what happened to them.

[carionto]

See, we got this... inclination

The Galactic Coalition is no stranger to war. Every sapient race has a history filled with external conflict, and most with some internal strife as well. Even now, the Coalition is in a stalemate with the United Federation on the North-Western arm of the Galaxy, a recently cooled hot war over what the Federation call foreign meddling in internal affairs, while the Coalition claim is an abusive contractual effective enslavement of a pre-stellar civilization, which goes against the Coalition's Ethics Directorate For All Sapient Encounters.

The Humans, who managed to learn of this on their own, sparking a hushed debate about their espionage capabilities, wanted to send their own delegation to the established Neutral Zone to speak with the Federation. As a party to the Coalition governing body, they have free reign to make contact with anyone on their own terms, with the understanding such individual activity will not represent the Coalition itself.

It did not take long for the Humans to reach back to us with an inquiry:

"So like, this might just be us, but these fellas are giving us some nasty fascist vibes, ya feel me? Maybe we're wrong (though we do got a lot of experience with that), but have a look at this data we've gathered so far."

What we saw were shockingly detailed and up-close images of clearly Federation design medical and emergency disaster relief encampments. A baffling number in fact, but technically nothing that would indicate wrongful action or intent. But there were a lot of them all across the planet.

"Yeah, we only got data from right now, so do you got info on this planet and it's folk from earlier? My gut, and all these shuttles full of some kinda cargo we can't scan hyperin' away, is telling me that it's not gonna match well."

The Human, or his... gut?... (we'll have to ask them to elaborate, we thought they only had one mind?) is correct, startlingly so. We informed the Human the atmosphere was far thinner than it was merely 40 years ago, containing a third less Nitrogen and almost no trace gasses at all, save for CO2, which was at nominal levels, but the planet used to have an abundance of Helium, now almost entirely gone. If further investigation corroborates this, and perhaps other inconsistencies, this will be cause for a full open investigation and possible sanctions!

"So... can we fight them?"

The Human's question startled us from our anger, now replaced with confusion and worry. Humanity boasted the most powerful fleet in Coalition space, there was no question about it, but they are still only a singular planet with some specialist stations dotted around local space, while the Federation was composed of dozens of races across thousands of planets in a very efficient hierarchical structure, plus the true strength of their military was unknown.

This is a delicate matter and we need them to not act rashly. We have learned, however, that outright denying Humans anything leads them to desire it more, so we must adopt a new approach to each situation we wish the Humans to... not take the initiative on.

Offering the delegation leader command of our own covert investigation units, and requesting he withdraw his ships to act as emergency response and intervention forces in the area seemed to please him. He had an important task to do, and his crew busied themselves preparing for a variety of possibilities, thus making the Humans feel both needed and engaged in productive activity, preventing them from escalating the situation. For now.

We really hope this "gut" will not cause rash action.

[byz-was-here]

Because no one asked,

Here's how I would do a transformers series:

1) emphasize the disguise

They're robots in disguise. Its in the tagline. Make the bots and cons fight each other while trying not to be noticed.

Why would world conquering deceptions stoop to hiding from puny organics?

Easy. Skew the matchup. If its 8 billion nuclear armed monkeys vs 5-10 alien robots, even ol megsy ain't gonna take those odds.

The Autobots have an even easier reasoning: follow the prime directive.

2) Shipwreck everyone

Why can't the bots/cons just call for reinforcements?

They crash landed. That's why. Everyone's in stasis or injured. Callback to G1 where they spent 4 million years in sleep mode under a volcano. Maybe not *that* long but it would explain why no one noticed two alien starships smacking into the planet. No one was around to see it. Macguffin event happens, a couple bots and cons wake up, and they realize that a wholeass civilization popped up during their nap.

3) Civilian autobots

Why did they come to earth?

As is usually the go to answer: Cybertron's f*cked. Solution: Autobots dig out a *really* old and obscure planetary survey, find a decent enough planet, Optimus takes a bunch of scientists and engineers on a colony ship and they go off to found New Cybertron. Survey said the place was uninhabited, so it's free real estate. (Humans were probably still debating whether or not coming down from the trees and walking on 2 legs was a good idea when the Cybertronian scouts did the survey)

Soundwave does his soundwave thing, finds out, Megatron loads up a warship, and they shoot each other down on prehistoric earth. Meanwhile, a caveman named grug figures out mr fire is your friend.

Point is, you've got one side that's a bunch of scientists, engineers, and other civilians (The Autobots)

And the other that's almost all elite combat troops (the Decepticons)

But, because of the first two issues, the cons can't take advantage of it. Otherwise they alert the Humans and someone with an itchy trigger finger drops a thermonuclear warhead on the stranded nemesis.

And if a human does discover the Autobots? Imo a civilian is more likely to break the rules and play nice than a trained soldier.

4) nobody wants to stay here

The Autobots originally planned to colonize earth, sure. That was before they got shot down, locked into stasis for who knows how long, and woke up to see an entire sapient civilization spring up from nowhere during their nap.

Optimus is Optimus, so it's plan B: freedom is the right of sentient beings, so we fix the ark and found new Cybertron somewhere else. Ideally, the human race won't realize they were ever here.

The Deceptions only care about crushing the Autobots and getting off this corrosive rock. Unless they can call home and summon an armada, it's just not *worth it* to pick a fight with humanity.

6) things I'd like to see

-Skyfire/Jetfire

Jetfire being one of the scouts, getting frozen in a callback to G1, and being found and thawed by some human scientists. He's just living his best life in a hidden lab, and only mildly worried about why Cybertron isn't answering his calls. Oh hey Starscream! When did you get the tattoo? (It's a bad breakup)

-Swindle

Our dystopian capitalist nightmare is Swindle's daydream paradise. He absolutely loves earth. #1 fan. He probably makes connections to the mob. Good times.

-Nightbird

Local mechanized AI (or ghost in the shell cyborg) has an emotional crisis, joins the deceptions. Beats up any Cons that disrespect her. No notes.

-Dinobots

"Wheeljack, why do our new security drones look like...that?"

"So there's this earth movie called "Jurassic Park"..."

Later:

"Wheeljack?"

"Yes optimus?"

"What happened to the sparks that we had in stasis?"

***Tyrannosaurs roar*** Me Grimlock Smash! (Panicked Decepticon screaming)

"Never mind, I think I figured it out."

-one sane adult human

Obvs theres a couple teens who pal around with the Autobots. There should be at least ONE adult in their early 20s as part of the group who's forced, however unwilling, to be the sole voice of reason. Aka: "I'M NOT TELLING YOUR PARENTS YOU GOT SQUISHED SNEAKING INTO AN EVIL ROBOT SPACESHIP"

"Then who's gonna pull off the rescue?"

"I AM!" (They instantly regret this decision, but They're at least old enough to make it)

-Shockwave as a late series villain

Shockwave has had command of the Decepticons ever since Megatron's Ill fated disappearance chasing after the Autobot Ark.

Having him return and upset Shockwave's centuries of effort holding onto the planets in the Deception Empire would be... Unfortunate. Perhaps it would be better if he stayed dead.... It's only logical.

[the-gateway-to-madness]

It sorta bothers me that post-series people are still complaining about 3Below being disconnected from the rest of Tales of Arcadia. For me, it was a refreshing break from the densely-packed fantasy lore and an intriguing peek at the way the universe beyond Arcadia and Earth functions. I liked the character arcs and interpersonal connections. And there was ample room for me to come up with a bunch of my own headcanons, which I love! I absolutely love being able to slot pieces of my own mind and soul into an existing world! I don't like shows where I'm told how every little detail works, that's way too much to remember. Instead I want enough to create an idea of the rules and how things might have gone/might continue to go and fill in whatever else I want.

Also, I think 3Below was SUPPOSED to be a lot more connected before Wizards got cut down. Tons of ideas didn't make it into the limited series run- I remember hearing stuff about Mordred being involved, a lost Krel arc, and I'm sure a lot of lore that would have bound the worlds together more closely. When they mentioned Gaylen's core came from Earth, there was clearly supposed to be more to that, but it got cut out. I'm like 93% sure Gaylen was a being who was part of or similar to the Arcane Order, but was drawn to the cosmos rather than to a part of the Earth. That would indicate that Akiridion tech and magic are compatible because Akiridions' energy-based life was initially magical, but those roots were largely forgotten because of how old a civilization Akiridion is. They've been spacefaring since humans were cavepeople. If the Order existed from the primeval dawn of the world, and Gaylen left not long after that, Akiridion could be millenia ahead of Earth. Or, heck, maybe Earth was the first or only livable world, and Gaylen created the Order to look after it before going off to try to find or create life elsewhere. I always headcanoned that Seklos was more powerful than most Akiridions or even the Royals that came after her, given the fact her core alone was enough to stop Gaylen while in the modern era it requires two royal cores. Maybe she was created by Gaylen to be Akiridion's version of an Arcane Order type being, and she created normal Akiridions, which she then had kids with, diluting her power in the Royals that followed. There's so much ancient history to unpack from just the tidbits we were given.

As for the modern era, there seems to very distinctly be a major intergalactic connection. The drunk ship operator in episode 3 of 3b s1 that the Zerons interrogate talks about ship classifications, which indicates a universal or at least an interplanetary system of ship ratings. We also see interplanetary tourism, and signs that Akiridion is one of the most advanced and influential planets out there.

3Below doesn't need to continue the plot of Trollhunters to be a valid part of Tales of Arcadia. It brought an energy to ToA that was somewhere between Star Trek TNG and Babylon 5, and I love how it expands the weirdness of Arcadia. If it was supposed to be a continuation of Trollhunters, they would have made more Trollhunters. But it's not Trollhunters, it's 3Below. And Wizards isn't Trollhunters either! I honestly think that Camelot, Douxie, and the world of wizards could have been written such that the Trollhunters cast was much less focal, and that if they'd given the show the time it needed and deserved to tell its story, it would have been fleshed-out and fascinating all on its own, with or without the TH gang. Where are the magic users beyond the reach of Camelot? Are there merfolk, sirens, harpies, dryads, more dragons, or other sapient races living on Earth with their own civilizations and magic and cultures? There are so many worlds and so many potential stories out there, on Earth and beyond, in the Tales of Arcadia universe. Arcadia just happens to be the narrative meshing point of them all. And I think that's a really cool way to build a universe.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk, here's more Akiridion development as a treat for making it this far.

[jpitha]

Humans make friends with anything.

It's some strange power they have. I just don't understand it. When we first met Humanity, we were wary. Here was another race, alone for millennia off in their own corner of the galaxy, far from everyone. When we showed up they sounded relieved. There was no threats, no antagonistic actions, they immediately asked to set up embassies on our worlds and invited us to theirs.

Humans in droves volunteered to go to our starbases and colonies, to learn about us, to share with us their technology, and they offered everyone they met a chance to go live on a human station or colony. They really just seemed happy to have someone new to talk to.

That's not to say they were unarmed. We also (much later) learned that with no enemies around they had a tendency to turn on themselves. They showed us videos. We shuddered and looked at them with fearful wide eyes. "You did that, to yourselves?" we whispered.

Without anger, but with some sadness they replied. "Yes. We did that. We thought we had to at the time, and we're not proud of it now, and it took a long time for us to get here, but -sigh- yeah."

Note for others reading this: After much prodding they admitted they did not destroy or dispose of their weapons. Be wary of antagonizing them.

Anyway, we met them and learned about them and they us. We learned that they've been in space a long time. Long enough to assume they were alone in the galaxy at least. They colonized other worlds at regular relativistic speeds! Their planets were decades of flight time apart. Eventually they figured out how to generate wormholes and even though there were some wild side-effects - it turns out 1 in 10 sapients who go through a wormhole die and then...undie when they ship leaves the wormhole. I don't know why and to be honest, I don't think they do either - they used it enthusiastically and shrank their worlds. Not only was going to another world not a one way trip anymore, but you could go take a vacation on another world and come home!

And their ships! Their ships and starbases are beautiful. Each one different, and each one a riot of color and texture. No two were the same and they all were pleasing to look at. When asked why they simply replied "We like it."

Because they thought they were alone, they decided to build friends. Their AIs are unparalleled. They are fully sapient beings with rights and privileges in human space. They can (and do) change bodies at a whim and while most ships have an AI aboard, not all do and not all AIs are ships. There is friction occasionally but mostly, the AIs are friendly with their creators and their creators love their creation.

When we met the humans, they worked hard to show us that they were worthy of being our friend. We work harder than we'll ever admit to them that we work just as hard to be worthy of their friendship.

It's helpful though, that humans make friends with anything.

[hirotheinkling]

Murder Drones Headcanon: Alien Species

In my personal Murder Drones Headcanon, there are many species of sapient extraterrestrial beings who live on the planets that have been discovered by humans as they reached out into space. Every single one of them is extremely unique in their appearance and biology, having been evolutionarily shaped by the conditions of their respective homeworlds. There is also the Interstellar Commonwealth, an interplanetary government which was founded in 2546 to unite space-faring civilizations into the common goal of further exploration.

The Tragedy of Zyphoria-3 and the Consequences of Cultural Contamination

When the Interstellar Commonwealth was still very young, its explorers were more similar to missionaries, wanting to help less advanced civilizations. When they arrived at the third planet in the Zyphoria system in 2576, they found a world in the midst of an arms race (of biological weapons rather than nuclear ones), with continents cut up by national borders. So they landed and revealed themselves as well as their technology, as they thought it was the right thing to do. They simply wanted to help this world skip the cumbersome steps that others had to go through to achieve a sufficient level of advancement. However, they couldn’t control the spread. Wars broke out across the planet due to nations seeking to use the technology for personal gain and political dominance. By 2580, 3 billion Zyphorians had perished in the resulting global conflict. After that, new laws were passed, strictly prohibiting any interference of this manner, commonly referred to as ‘cultural contamination’, in the future.

And all those Commonwealth explorers tried to do was help.

Murder Drones Alien Species Design Contest

I would love to see a design for an alien species which is both fitting for the Murder Drones Universe and displays true originality, so I am holding a contest to see who can come up with the most creative design! Although humanoid designs are not prohibited, they are strongly discouraged. Entries will consist of artwork of the species and its home planet as well as an overview of their culture. (You can put two or more species on one planet if you’d like to!) You have until August 18th at 12:00 PM UTC to reblog this post and attach your entry!

@starryinkart, @electrozeistyking, @withered--s0uls, @yadchi-i-guess, @kkolg, @starlightohstar, @chaotically-coz, @megbanned, @jazzstarrlight, @roseofhybrids, and @thecosmiccrow, I’m at it again! Another opportunity to see everyone’s ideas!

I highly encourage you guys to take inspiration from the works of the wonderful Alex Ries (Creator of the birrin) as seen below for your designs while also staying true to the style of Liam Vickers!

Also, here’s a list of a few species from the show The Orville (which I’ve gotten into a bit recently) which you can also use as a basis for your alien species designs and cultures, but remember to give it the aesthetic of Alex Ries’ works and the style of Liam Vickers!

Moclans of the planet Moclus

Sarguns of the planet Sargus 4

Xelayans of the planet Xelaya

Regorians of the planet Regor 2

The Krill of the planet Krill

The Kaylon and their Builders from the planet Kaylon 1

Lastly, here are some designs by the wonderful Alex Ries! Good luck, and do your best, everyone! I would like to see at least one design for the Zyphorians too!

Edit (8/1/2024): This contest has not received as much attention as I hoped it would, so it must unfortunately come to an end.

[sol-consort]

Repost of an ask I accidentally deleted.

Pov: You're a turian discovering this new sapient species broadcasting their whole location to the galaxy very loudly and decide to go down to investigate the humans.

Humans are like a rubber ball, which is what the first contact war proved. The harder you throw them, the harder they bounce back, and the next thing you know, all of your loyal turian population are sending creepy fanmail letters to the cute human news reporters.

The fact that we express joy by showing our teeth probably is something that never sat well with the turians ever, huh?

Also POV: you're the Councillors meeting the human team sent to you trying to convince you on why they should have an embassy right next door and please let them in the citidal please please please please please please-

We Don't bite .Often. We are silly little guys let us in come on. We have been STARVED for any galactic connections. Please we were this close to blowing each other up with nuclear weapons.

Ignore that last bit. Hahaha. Ha. So let us in! Friends! We are friends, let's be friends now. Tell us how you guys reproduce and what you eat. We have cats! We have chocolate, and we have produced more porn than a single human can consume in their lifetime! We have everything you need so let us join the partyyyy.

We've brought beer :) You don't have that, right? Let us in, and we will give you all the food we've made.

Humans annoying their way into getting an embassy so soon is very hilarious.

Because you know damn well that our politicians played the first contact war card and guilt tripped the council into letting us sit on the big kids' table after the turian bullied us to hell and back. We brought the waterworks and pretended they really hurt our feelings just to get the shiny human embassy office.

It didn't matter that they threw us in some random office next to the elcor and the embassies food court. You know damn well none of the humans stayed on the office and they're constantly annoying their neighbour embassies or the citidal tower instead.

Hell, we even stooped so low to accept being called the council's new favourite pet race just so we can get all the benefits and jumpstart our integration into the galaxy.

Constantly asking questions. Constantly touching things. Constantly asking to eat this and drink that without regards to if it will kill us or not.

That's how they found out humans had the most diverse genetics btw, before they could get any tests done on the humans with viable results, they found the said humans eating everything they come across and updating a google docs sheet of things they tried that haven't killed them yet.

The doc is shared between all the humans on the Citidal, and everyone adds their updates. Some even tried inedible stuff just to see, because what if space plastic is different than our plastic? Sure, they ended up in emergency care, but it was so worth it.

The humans are very impatient, and the other races quickly learned. They want something done, and they want to do it now, and they want to get the gratification immediately! They make the salarians look like monks despite their short life spans

In the span of a year, earth humans were sending in job applications to different colonies and planets, ones they haven't even visited yet.

By the span of 5 years, humans successfully spread through the galaxy and you always find one nearby. It's harder not to spot a human than it is to spot them.

How do you find out if the person wearing this armour is an asari or a human? Simple, just wait.

The human will announce it themselves by doing some dumb shit like twirling the loaded gun in their hand to do a really sick trick they saw on the human social media app, tiktok.

Udina was a little shit, yes, but you know that man was knocking on the councillors' doors every day at 3am. to show them his powerpoint presentation on why humans deserve a seat on the council.

Humans fit wherever you put them. They eat everything, they can handle most temperatures. they only need oxygen and some sleep, and they're good to go!

It's hard for the aliens to predict just what type of human any given one of us they meet could be.

There's just too many to keep track of. The most rude person and the nicest person a turian have met are both humans.

They want to see the stars, they want to take pictures, they want to stare at pretty sunsets on different planets and they want to speak to aliens, hug them and learn more about them

They're burning bright like a star, wanting so much all the time. It's intimidating to the other races how hungry humans are for information and connection that they come across as a bully. Their friendly nature gets misunderstood and their kind gestures gets questioned for ulterior motives.

Because humans love helping, it's in our genetic code as a tribal species. We love feeling useful for the tribe and fulfilling others needs. We love giving someone a sip of our drink, opening the door for someone else, picking up a stray empty can and throwing it in the trash.

Going on useful fetch missions just to see someone else smile, hearing a stranger vent because we have been there, smiling at people we make eye contact with, giving compliments and laughing at jokes we overheard from strangers.

We are social, be it online or offline. We love others, we love loving others and we want others to love us back. Each human is so different yet so similar, some of us will feel more at home with the aliens than with other humans while others might not even stomach leaving earth

We are also...kinda of feral in a way? We don't notice it because we're surrounded by humans.

But if you look closely, so many of our traits are animalistic and could be perceived as scary by an alien that had thousands of years to evolve past them. Our hardware is still relatively new, and an update won't come for a long time.

The hugging. the yelling, the dancing, playing tag. games of chase. We evolved from predetors, our eyes are trained to follow a single target precisely.

Rough playing with your friends, enjoying throwing objects and catching it like a ball, enjoying tearing through food with our teeth. Hell we look like predators, we act like ones too.

We're not like worker bees, like turians who always give their all to everything they do.

No, we preserve energy, then lunge at our target the second it's gaurd falls down. A persistent predator that wears you down rather than overpowering you like a krogan

Btw, Korgans evolved from prey because of where their eyes are placed. Only predetors have forward facing eyes to focus on a single thing, the wider one's vision is the more likely they used to be a prey animal.

Side note, but Krogans would probably taste kinda good bc of that, predators' meat evolves to be shrivled and bitter. While Krogans have a literal hump full of food nutrition! Turians would taste bad unless chicken in that case... CHICKEN.

So do you think Hanar and Drell find it adorable that we used to be aquatic?

Anyway so-

In a single decade, humanity successfully integrated fully into the galaxy and joined the Andromeda project to explore the new one. We're like the opposite of hanar. So many other races achieved less than half of what we did in ten times the amount of years

Because we need social contact, it's vital for our survival as much as the sun is. It's our drive for exploring and hoping for aliens, for some other race out there we could befriend and learn about.

New things give us such a rush of dopamine and we're constantly chasing it with stars in our eyes.

In a way, the aliens probably felt the most special after meeting the humans. To have a race so interested in you and learning about you and appreciating your culture. To have thousands if not millions of humans ready to dedicate their lives to documenting you just because you happened to be the prettiest race in their eyes.

Like I'd gladly throw my life away to study the Drell.

And we things other races don't! We party harder funny enough.

A turian mentions it in ME2. How most alcoholic beverages everyone uses today, was invented by humans. How it seems like humans found out every intoxication there is and let it spread like wildfire to others. Out endless libraries of music, the videogames we've made, the art, the instruments we play.

And a Salarian mentions how human food is their favourite. Don't the Hanar also like our sushi? funny enough.

We're infectious. Easily accept anyone and everyone into our groups if we happened to click with them, we even befriended the animals on our planets enough to care for them like our own children.

[dailycharacteroption]

Races Among the Stars 10: Xulgath

And now it's time to take a look at another mainstay of ttrpg critters brought forward into the future, the xulgath, or if you prefer their original name from D&D and early Pathfinder, troglodytes.

The word “troglodyte” comes from Ancient Greece, where it meant “cave-diver”, where it was used to refer to a cave-dwelling civilization the Greeks encountered, or at least made stories about. In the modern parlance it is used to refer to any species that has adapted wholly to living in cave systems. Such creatures are typically pale and sightless, having no need for pigments to protect from the sun or functional eyes with which to see.

The D&D trog refers to a species of subterranean reptilian humanoids that were foul -smelling (though they tended to leave the specifics of why they smell vague) and exceedingly brutish and primitive, having a hatred for surface dwellers and other charming qualities one expects to see from Gygax and his philosophy of Biological Determinism to justify why another sapient species was inherently evil and must be destroyed. Even into later editions, the specifics of their culture rarely got deeper than “stone age tools and primitive strength-focused culture”, even in the setting books.

At first, the Pathfinder version of trogs was much the same way, but as they began to develop lore, things changed. Suddenly, the trogs weren’t just brutes in the dark, but the remnants of a once-great civilization, one of the oldest on Golarion. This is where we first heard the name “xulgath” as well, being first used for the statblock of a stronger, psychically sensitive throwback to those once lofty heights, complete with a fancy explanation that their pheromones were actually odorless, but psychoactive so that other species registered them as the worst stench they had ever experienced. This psychoactive angle never really comes up again though, and is probably non-canon now.

However, we wouldn’t get the full story of the xulgath until Second Edition with the Extinction Curse AP. It turns out that once, Xulgath civilization dwelled in an underground paradise fueled by the magic of six floating orbs that provided light, heat, positive energy, and protection from deadly radiation.

That is until Aroden came, and believed that humanity could better use the power of the stones, taking five and leaving one behind believing it would be enough to sustain Vask. It was not. (Either Aroden is really bad at math and fractions, or convinced himself a token mercy would be enough for his conscience after the xulgath were out of sight and out of mind).

(Yeah… when you start to read up on Aroden as a god and as a person, turns out he was pretty much a dick to anyone who wasn’t a human, and sometimes even that wasn’t enough to spare you from his dickishness. Especially since he had a tendency to infuse his divine essence into powerful magic systems to empower them and lay claim to them, the equivalent of licking to claim ownership, which caused said artifact’s downfall when he died and his essence began decaying, potentially taking them with it).

In any case, with their home destroyed by the unabated radiation of the vault, the xulgath degenerated both in body and in society, losing many technological innovations and descending into barbarism, cannibalism, and demon-worship.

However, with the events of Extinction Curse, perhaps a spark of hope is kindled for their kind.

All of this to say that the xulgath have survived into the far future of Starfinder, though like all peoples, they lost much to the loss of Golarion and The Gap. Now they dwell mostly on Apostae alongside many former Darklands peoples, but of course, they survive under the yoke of the dro-… excuse me… “void elves”, but even then, they persist, and have even taken advantage of new developments to carve out a niche for themselves with them in control on the mysterious planet.

Xulgath are muscular humanoid reptiles with mottled gray skin that blends in well with most stone, though over time in the sun many have developed more vibrant tones. Their eyes are large and typically yellow, which alongside their wide grinning mouths, makes for an intimidating, almost charicature-esque contenance. Their heads are set forward from the shoulders on powerful necks, and their limbs sport strong claws on the hands and feet, and are trailed by a long, flexible tail. Additionally, they sport several scent glands in their necks that serves as a surprisingly sophisticated pheromonal system of communication that can even be used to tell entire olfactory oral histories. However, the fact that most other species react negatively to the smell does mean xulgath are quick to switch to purely vocal communication when other species are present as a courtesy.

Far from where they were in Golarion of the past, xulgath are no longer under the thumb of the Demon Lord Zevgavizeb. However, many aspects of that dark time still linger in xulgath society. They still value strength and prowess (though not necessarily physical), and they tend to give the greatest shares to the most powerful among them, while the weak are disregarded. This may seem callous to others, but scarcity and hard times are ingrained into their DNA, and it speaks to their pragmatism that they focus on providing for those with the best chance of survival and of defending the rest from harm. In the end, the only thing that matters is the survival of their people, and they are willing to do anything, kind or cruel, to ensure it.

The xulgath also take pride in their traditions, though The Gap and generations of void elf attempts to enact cultural genocide have worn down many such traditions, most surviving in olfactory stories that have no spoken form, hidden in smells that the elves have as much chance of recognizing or understanding as they do of finding them pleasant. In the end, xulgath are xulgath, and no threat of extinction will ever rob them of that.

Xulgath are strong and tough, but their reliance on olfactory communication and standoffish attitudes make them difficult to relate to.

Their oral traditions are also very deep, leading them to pass down vast arrays of knowledge and technical skills, which grants them proficiency with something outside their vocation or merely improves such a skill within their purview.

While meant for communication, xulgath are very aware that their pheromones elicit revulsion in most other species, so on occasion they can weaponize it to leave nearby foes coughing and hacking.

Meanwhile, the xulgath themselves possess quite sensitive noses and eyes on their own, able to navigate in darkness and detect pheromonal signals and threats alike with ease.

With their strength and toughness, xulgath lend themselves well to being powerful melee combatants like melee soldiers, evolutionists and solarions, nanocytes, and vanguards. However, also consider their deep traditions and how that could inspire a mystic build, not to mention their practical know-how being the perfect excuse to play biohacker, mechanic, or technomancer. Operative can also be a good choice, especially with certain specializations or alternate features. Their only real weakness is charisma, which can make envoy and witchwarper difficult. But while xulgath have a reputation, there is nothing that they can’t overcome with their determination, including something as trifling as stats.

I’m pretty happy with this entry, but we’ve got one left tomorrow, focusing on an entirely new species, look forward to it!

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Browsed through some of your art and damn it’s amazing! Curious about this though, what made you decide to make Humans go extinct in the world that your Fantasy Race Designs live in?

It's a little fixed detail from an earlier concept I had.

Originally, I had all the magical folks gather up and use mass teleportation to go live on another planet to escape the growing threat of humans. And then I changed it to time travel to stay on earth but jump ahead to a time when humans were no longer around.

And then I decided my magic system couldn't handle that kind of major spell and transporting a whole planet's worth of diverse magical folks in so many different locations was maybe not so feasible lol.

So now it's just that the magical folks evolved on their own, probably lived among humanity for a long time. But humanity was the dominant sapient species, so the others remained a little more "primitive" until humanity started to die out and their niche opened up.

It helps that i also now have powerful Life entities in my worldbuilding, who can use their powers to manipulate and affect the evolution of any creature they favor. This is why the world has so many sapient species in the wake of humanity's extinction.

Also my protagonist is an archaeologist and having human artifacts around for him to study adds a little something to the plot themes about the cyclical nature of life.

[bedrockfactory]

Talk more about their culture, seems to be pretty interesting

Woah I actually planned to post it tonight! What a coincidence lmao

But here is some lore of their culture and economy

Tovoxrans are a sapient race inhabiting a planet called by humans Pythagoras-13 that orbits a red dwarf. As they became a space-faring civilization around 2000 Earth years ago, they became known as the finest interstellar miners, metallurgists and geologists of the Galaxy.

The mining industry has always been a backbone of their culture, economy, and even a mindset of their community ever since their species could have been considered a civilization, mostly because their species, and pretty much the whole ecosystem on their planet developed in the cave system deep underground.

Even now, as they focus on the development of their space empire, around 56% of their colonies on other planets are for mining purposes only, 34% are mining and residental, and 10% are residental only.

As an Empire, they avoid joining any interstellar unions, as they value political independence, although they prefer to have good or at least neutral relations with other empires, so they can keep their title as main providers of the best quality resources and raw materials.

[lucent-nargacuga]

newly rewritten pikmin wraith headcanons because one theory being confirmed completely destroyed what I had

obligatory disclaimer that this is not canon nor a theory, this is my interpretation and also my pikmin au (but everyone is welcome to use my headcanons 👍)

note that the following are ocs: thermo wraith, the mudwraiths, the ghoulid classification, phantoms, and (technically) the revenant

wraith types

there are two types of wraiths: wraiths without a core and wraiths with a core. (as all wraiths are liquid, each type has two subtypes, cold wraiths and hot wraiths. this only has to do with what a wraith's body is made of. both the waterwraith and plasm wraith are cold wraiths.) coreless wraiths originate from beyond pnf-404 in meteorites, while wraiths with cores originate from pnf-404 itself.

what are wraiths?

all wraiths are souls of sapient beings trapped inside liquids. these souls can never move on to the afterlife as being trapped inside a liquid for hundreds of years corroded them beyond recognition.

wraiths with cores are specifically human souls, and the core is the soul itself as well as the memories from its past life. there are two notable artificial wraiths with cores, those being the plasm wraith and the thermo wraith.

coreless wraiths are souls from alien races that are not humans.

wait, artificial wraiths? how is that possible?

pnf-404, once known as earth, became a living being countless years in the past. the resident humans did not leave the planet for about a hundred years after this apocalyptic incident occurred until the planet was too unstable to be fit for living. this gave human scientists a long time to experiment with the new lifeforms and new laws of nature.

why there are multiple waterwraiths (and mudwraiths)

a giant meteor containing countless trapped souls due to a bizarre mining accident broke up near pnf-404 and the pieces fell to the planet's surface, one by one. as the meteor was full of water, all those souls became multiple waterwraiths.

upon landing, the waterwraiths were significantly weaker than the ones seen ingame, only having a physical form that is easy to destroy. some of these wraiths had their bodies destroyed and were able to go to the afterlife- but due to their souls being corroded they were swiftly rejected and were sent back to the mortal realm, where they gained an odd, invulnerable form. however, they are not entirely stable and gravitational waves will make them temporarily revert to their former form. interestingly, when this body is destroyed too, the cycle will only continue.

mudwraiths are waterwraiths that landed recently enough to have not experienced having their body destroyed (or they may have landed longer ago but got very lucky and avoided danger). they cover themselves in mud or another substance as armour of sorts for protection. interestingly, they outnumber the "reborn" waterwraiths by a vast amount, yet they are seldom seen as they are anxious, shy, and nocturnal.

do ghoulids still exist?

yes! this is just a classification given to all creatures that are not organic/biological (with the exception of glow pikmin and the mechanical creatures, such as man-at-legs).

what about the phantoms?

phantoms are the supernatural equivalent of convergent evolution. they are almost the same as they were (before my headcanons had to change) and have no connection to wraiths, other than being coincidentally similar to wraiths with cores.

phantoms originate from another dimension. they are not trapped souls, but some theorize they may be reincarnations of otherworldly beings. nobody has a single clue as to why they can be found on pnf-404 in the first place, and the phantoms themselves don't seem to know either.

what about the revenant?

pnf-404 will still be considered the revenant until there's more canon information revealed.

wraith cores and "wraithstuff"

wraiths with cores are notably stronger than coreless wraiths due to their ability to regenerate; their bodies are impossible to destroy. the core, while being the soul and memories of the wraith, constantly generates a substance known as "wraithstuff". this substance is an extension of the core and is bound to the liquid that makes up the wraith's body.

in coreless wraiths, "wraithstuff" is the soul itself.

glow pikmin, glow sap, and what they have to do with wraiths

glow pikmin are extremely similar to wraiths. their bodies consist of glow sap with a pikmin soul within, yet they retain some features of still-living pikmin such as eyes and a stem. they are able to fuse their bodies together into an amorphous ball to perform a powerful attack known as a glowmob. however, despite the similarities, glow pikmin are not wraiths.

glow sap affects wraiths differently than organic beings. while it is still unknown what exactly happens, being touched by glow sap makes all wraiths react as if it causes them physical pain. wraiths avoid glow sap whenever possible due to this.

[carionto]

THUD, thud, thud

related story

The Earth is being held together by duct tape and sheer force of will, in some locations quite literally. Countries-wide rubberized titanium-alloy netting reduces the rate of continental collapse, globe-encompassing pipelines send expelled magma flows from the ever growing number of active volcanoes towards the Pacific Abyss to somewhat reduce the size of the hole and delay the inevitable calamity, and countless local efforts everywhere try and keep the rock beneath our feet from splitting further.

Despite this, Humanity keeps on keeping on with all other matters that have concerned us from the beginning and will continue forever onwards. Games, culture, love, innovation, squabbles, politics, war, and repeating ourselves.

After our ascension into the stars and amongst civilizations much older, some from before our pre-history even began, many were hopeful they would have a solution that could save Earth.

They didn't.

Most sapient races emerged from planets far more stable and comfortable than Earth was before we blew a 200km hole in it, cue all the consequences, so their standards for what a planet worth terraforming in the first place are much more narrow than our own. When we described and showed the current conditions of our homeworld, they were aghast at the fact anything was alive down here, let alone thriving.

To be fair, we were in the middle of a mass extinction event, then things got explodey, which caused another, far faster mass extinction event. Currently there are more archived species in deep cryo storage out in space, about 2.4 million in fact (mainly bugs and flowers), than living on the surface.

Still, there's no place like home, and no doubt there will be millions of people who choose to go down with it rather than leave Earth behind and witness its demise. Still millions more are trying every creative approach to fix things.

Since we're dealing with matters of the tectonic plates and the mantle layer, most serious efforts involve a lot of deep sea endeavors and expeditions into the dozens of literal cracks in the Earth that did not form into volcanoes simply due to the fact they're between several earlier formed ones, so there's just not enough magma flow left over between.

Thus were born the deepest and most insanely dangerous spelunking expeditions - and it's quite safe to say this - in the entire Galaxy. We're probably the only ones stupid enough to go down holes, some of which are well over a hundred kilometers deep, with the intent of closing the hole, or pushing the walls further to close a different, even bigger hole. Some are being filled in, and such efforts would succeed if the Earth weren't missing several quadrillion tons of matter and we had a few thousand years to do it.

The seismic activity of Earth more closely resembles that of a planet only a few hundred million years old. A thousand years ago we dismissed the term "Deathworld". Seven hundred years ago we redefined it. At present, many of us are try to deny it. In less than a century, Earth will fully live up to the term.

---beneath the deepest below---

(some context: 1 2)

The soothing pressure is weakening. The being at the center of anything it chooses, lays dormant still. Its focus, what little it has decided to maintain in its slumber, is on a distant something that should not be beginning to end yet.

Some being is acting out of turn, breaking how things are - for a fraction of a moment, before the Order of Things reasserts itself. Why must there always be a renegade...

Where it slumbers is exerting the faintest of feeling upon it. Another something that should not be. Yet all around there are nothings. Too many nothings. Some precede a further venting of the comforting pressure.

Nothings are still nothings. A something demands the only attention it maintains. Most eyes fully shut, another slightly shut. Should a matter be discovered to be worth awakening for, only then will all the nothings and almost somethings be done away with.

Nothings are a distraction when dealing with somethings in the waking state.

[lakesbian]

also re cassie arguing for accepting the ellimist's offer via this line of thinking:

"Jake," Cassie said. "See this?" She held up her left arm and pointed to a scar above her wrist. "I got this from a raccoon. The raccoon had been caught in a trap. Its leg was broken. I was trying to free it so I could save it. It bit me." "We’re not raccoons," Jake said. "Aren’t we? Compared to the Ellimist?" Cassie said. "Isn’t it just possible he’s right? That what he’s trying to do is save at least a part of the human race? That he’s just trying to get us out of the trap and fix our broken bones?"

i like the edge of cosmic(?) horror creeping in--i don't know whether or not it would scan like that to someone in the intended age range (i mean. i would probably read it that way if i was smalled), but the concept of "what if something that's to you like you are to a raccoon was trying to save vast swathes of the population from a danger they cannot comprehend, and you fought it because you cannot truly comprehend what it's doing" is like. That's pretty good. & also the precise element of apprehension here is the idea that you might be doing this accidentally, that it might be fully within your comprehension that it's something you could fuck everyone over by doing, and you make the wrong choice and do it anyway.

obviously cassie is wrong and her logic is so blatantly flawed multiple of the other animorphs articulate more or less precisely why during the ellimist's first appearance--it's manufacturing consent to put sapient people into a zoo by intentionally withholding aid from them during colonization & enslavement of their planet and then contacting a group of children it, by all its own logic, should be aware cannot reasonably be asked to make this decision, and then trying to coerce them into accepting on behalf of all of humanity. unlike a raccoon, a human is perfectly capable of grasping the beartrap they're in. humans are not raccoons compared to ellimists. an ellimist can find a way to convey ideas perfectly cogently to humans. humans cannot convey complex ideas cogently to racoons. humans could not prevent larger animals from ever eating a raccoon again even if they wanted to, but the ellimists could stop the yeerks. et cetera. but the concept cassie is arguing, and the fact that she's in a situation where it's plausible for her to argue, is a good bit of existential dread