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Post by Taffer on May 27, 2004 20:09:23 GMT -5
Although I will eventually take up the building of a unique race for the ASP, I want to first create an Imperium controlled world; I'm doing my bit to further the Project ;D. However, this is a concept I've been toying with, and I thought I'd post it in here. My general concept is a water race (yes, I know, I've read about the Atlanteans too...quite you!  ). Unlike the aformentioned race of 'stolen ideas' (kidding  ), the form of my race is not one of a distinct entity. Either they are made of the same stuff as the ocean in which they live (or something similar), although I realise that this will be a bit too 'Star-Trekky' for some, or each distinct entity is in fact a huge collection (a colony, if you will) of much smaller creatures with a linked will (think smart plankton). Their level of tech is high in some areas, but lower in others; in all they are about at the same level as the Imperium. They are able to travel on land, and even survive for extended periods of time, by the use of advanced 'pressure suits'. Due to limited telapathic abilities, they usually don't have any kind of civic unrest. They are able to comunicate in liquid by vibrations and pressures, as well as sound. They reproduce during some particular 'cycle' (based upon a natural phenomenon of their homeworld), and do so by joining the two 'entities' together in the same pool, bucket, or whatever. Thoughts? |
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Post by TheGlyphstone on May 27, 2004 23:44:30 GMT -5
Have you ever played the old-school game Ascendancy? Your race sounds a lot like the Fludentri. at least in the "sentient liquid" concept.
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Post by CELS on May 28, 2004 1:58:21 GMT -5
I'm no scientist, so I can't really tell you if this is a totally unrealistic concept. I do have some knowledge about the brain though, and I can't really comprehend how a fluid form of multiple organisms can actually work together and form higher intelligence, and even put on pressure suits. Anyway, I don't know about these things to object, so your concept is fine by me ;D However... I do not think the race sounds particularly "cool". A huge blob of smart plankton does not make me go "oooooh, awesome"... I know this is very irrelevant since it's a matter of taste, but I just thought I'd offer my thoughts  |
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Post by Kage2020 on May 28, 2004 6:26:13 GMT -5
They sound intriguing but I would be highly suspicious of yet another water race - or even race in general - that just happens to have the "same rough TL as the Imperium", though higher in some areas than the other... Everyone seems to be doing that at the moment. The concept is intriguing but would require some more detailing before I could even fully comment on the concept... Kage |
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Post by Taffer on May 28, 2004 9:38:29 GMT -5
Oh I know it, I was just throwing the idea into the wind, if you get my meaning. I am not hard-and-fast stuck to the idea, or even to an alien race at all (although I'd like to...), so we will see...
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Post by DesertGhostExarch on May 28, 2004 10:13:07 GMT -5
Either they are made of the same stuff as the ocean in which they live (or something similar), although I realise that this will be a bit too 'Star-Trekky' for some Ever seen the movie Abyss? While I don't think the aliens in that move were like you describe here, they had the whole "moving water" thing going pretty nice. There's also a StarGate SG-1 episode that has especial relevance to this "race concept"...it was the episode where the Russian gate was stuck open and all the "water" on the linked world was actually some alien race. Of course, if you're referring to the Dominion's homeworld from Star Trek, then sure, I guess it's "star trek"-y....  Perhaps yet another remnant of a past 'nid HiveFleet? (the Kraken found on various worlds, the Genestealers of Ymgarl, various viruses....). Of course that would probably be like blaming everything in the warp on Chaos! So I'll put on my "originality" cap..... Explain? Pressure suits? Why bother cater to the filthy land dwellers ( )? Movement on land could amount to the use of mercenaries or a subservient species (even a specialized "caste" or specialized entity sub-type?), or the use of armored aquariums (oh come on, it's not as silly as it sounds!). Or if their ability to bind is good enough, they could probably move about on land via pseudopods. Then again, why even bother moving on land? The Niccassar, one of the races that makes up the Tau Empire, apparently don't do well in gravity, and as such lack a mercenary auxilliary for the Tau Empire. Why must this race have "ground" units? I would imagine that, depending on cultural trends (assuming a unified culture within each gestalt entity), species interrelationships could get to the point where they each hide their thoughts from one another out of the sheer desire to protect their own thoughts. But then of course that's just my little selfish view of psionics. It would probably be more interesting to see a sort of fission (?), where a single entity could multiply as its "subunits" reproduce. How this could create an individual (there I go imprinting my human values on another race!), though, I don't know. |
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Post by Destecado on May 28, 2004 10:31:06 GMT -5
Why bother with pressure suits. How about having them use other species as their means of travel. Taking another image from the movie Abyss, remember when Ed Harris puts on the deep pressure suit, it fills his lungs with a hyperoxygenated liquid?
How about these creatures entering hosts as a liquid form? Most carbon based life (that we are aware of atleast) is made up of a large portion of water...ok, it is starting to sound more like the race from Stargate SG1.
Insted of making a liquid species, what about a race that grows inside of the other. It could perhaps be spores that in and of themselves are not sentient. When inhaled by a human or other sentient species, they begin to grow and colonize the brain of the infected person. They pretty much piggy back on the persons neural pathways, until they grow to a level of sentience. This is for the most part a hive mind where each fungal cell represents a byte of data.
As with computers, you need a certain amount of bytes to process any data. When the fungus hits that number it has the potential to reach sentience.
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Post by Taffer on May 28, 2004 11:21:02 GMT -5
Hmm...that is indeed an interesting idea, Destecado. My only problem with this, though, is how would something like this evolve without a sentien species to allow selection pressure to advance the species? Just a thought... Right. Well, I don't want another race with higher tech then the Imperium (IMHO the Imperium is actually fairly well up there in techological terms). So I was thinking, they would be fairly advanced when it comes to underwater vehicles. And their suits would, potentially, be fairly high-tech. But on the whole, they would have similar, or lower, technology. Even to the point that they have only recently developed space travel, due to them getting their hands on some Imperial technology (crashed ship or whatever). I come up with this for the simple reason that I'd like to have them as a wargame-able race. For that, they need to be on the land, yes? Well, pressure suits. There you go! ;D. On a more 'real' note, however, many things can be gained from going onto the land. They are free from natural preditors (although with a sentient species this, IMHO, would not be such a problem), would be able to expand on their knowlege (a race like this I think would be into learning things ), they could develop technology that wouldn't work underwater (electricity anyone?), etc. There are numerous reasons why going onto the land is advantageous. It could work, though I saw them as more of a 'unity' race. But it could, indeed, work. I like this idea, actually. It could be simply be that each entity that comprises the being has regular 'sex' with each other one (therefore, they are not all the same), and the entity it creates would then be unique. Sort of like each being is both male and female, and has sex with itself...  |
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Post by DesertGhostExarch on May 28, 2004 11:48:21 GMT -5
Hmm...that is indeed an interesting idea, Destecado. My only problem with this, though, is how would something like this evolve without a sentien species to allow selection pressure to advance the species? Just a thought... Ever read The Animorphs? Yeerks evolved as semisentient slime mold looking things and "controlled" very limited and not very well progressed simians on their homeworld. However, once...."introduced"....to other species and technologies (specifically, the Andalites), they flourished far beyond expectations. Much in the same way that humans have become advanced in overland transportation, I imagine? In any event, that still doesn't exactly answer my question. Give us some sort of technology they generally have or utilize; do they use turbines pumps, propellers...? How do they prevent killing each other randomly (ramming one another)? Or they could have vassal races, automata, or something else. Heck, they could even develop complicated bonding compounds and skeletal walkers for themselves to clutch to rather than ride in (which of course makes the inquiring mind want to know what sort of weapons they have! Or how they maintain a palatable atmosphere...which could be maintained via artificial breathing tubules/"blood vessels"). Or at least until they meet the other races of WH40k, at which point armor and battlesuits might be necessary. Which could probably function well enough in manufactured "bubbles" or in an environment slightly raised from the surface of the fluid. Airtight or vacuum technologies as such would be important for the development of electrical relays, but I don't think that it's required to be on land to build them. Am I pulling stuff out of my rear now? Probably. |
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Post by Taffer on May 28, 2004 12:04:05 GMT -5
I do have another idea that is slightly more, well, mundane. But I'll leave them for now . I'll have a think about their technology and get back to you. As to going on land...is defence a viable argument? If we (humans) were to be invaded by aliens that lived in our oceans, would we not don scuba gear and take the fight to them? Even more importantly, if we lived in the sea and an alien race landed on the land, then proceded to pump wastes into our environment, would you not want to go and kick some old fasioned land-dwelling ass? I know I would. |
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Post by DesertGhostExarch on May 28, 2004 12:31:19 GMT -5
As to going on land...is defence a viable argument? I don't doubt the wisdom of going aground for any reason, really; I'm just trying to exhaust the possibilities of an aquatic race before we fall back to good ol' tried-and-true air-breathin' ground pounder technology. Humans only recently began to explore the ocean with submersibles, remote-controlled machines, trained animals, and yes, SCUBA gear. I don't think scuttling about on the surface should be emphasized strongly. In much the same way, their starships should probably be mostly flooded with water, if only for the cosmetic appeal.... |
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Post by Taffer on May 28, 2004 19:09:42 GMT -5
Oh I agree entierly. Their suits would be more like our submersables. They are exploring the strange new frontier...going above, instead of going under.  I really really really like the idea of flooded ships. It has great appeal. I think this race is coming alone nicely (although there is still a plethora of other problems (twice in one day...yay for me ;D)). I think I'll write them a little intro, and then we can take it from there. After all, before people judge them they should get to know them. If they are still not liked, I'm happy to drop it...just not...quite...yet... |
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Post by CELS on May 31, 2004 9:27:29 GMT -5
Actually, if humans were to do war under water, I think we'd use submarines of varying sizes (3 to 100 meters)rather than sending down hordes of scuba divers. I think it would be cool if this race relied heavily on walkers above water, like the Proton dragoons (Sp?) from Starcraft.
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Post by Taffer on May 31, 2004 13:32:52 GMT -5
Hmm...interesting idea. So instead of individual suits, they have large scale walkers (Dreadnought size), and maybe vehicles (although I can see them not quite grasping the point of the wheel...).
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Post by CELS on May 31, 2004 14:21:14 GMT -5
Yeah, from Tau battle armour size to SM dreadnought size. I also think it would be cool to let them have several legs, like crabs, lobsters, etc.
But hey, I'm just trying to make them more unique, and I'm probably biased from my intense love for walker warmachines...
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). Unlike the aformentioned race of 'stolen ideas' (kidding 
), the form of my race is not one of a distinct entity. Either they are made of the same stuff as the ocean in which they live (or something similar), although I realise that this will be a bit too 'Star-Trekky' for some, or each distinct entity is in fact a huge collection (a colony, if you will) of much smaller creatures with a linked will (think smart plankton). Their level of tech is high in some areas, but lower in others; in all they are about at the same level as the Imperium. They are able to travel on land, and even survive for extended periods of time, by the use of advanced 'pressure suits'. Due to limited telapathic abilities, they usually don't have any kind of civic unrest. They are able to comunicate in liquid by vibrations and pressures, as well as sound. They reproduce during some particular 'cycle' (based upon a natural phenomenon of their homeworld), and do so by joining the two 'entities' together in the same pool, bucket, or whatever.
Die dulce fruere.
