Colonists - Tumblr Posts
The Soliph, a race of intelligent arthropods. They are powerful, and very adaptable, and are worshippers of thought and celestial bodies. They are a stark contrast with most alien designs, even among the rare arthropods. Designed initially after spiders, but new design direction is the heavily understudied Solfugid. These arachnid-like aliens evolved the use of 4 arms as a hand of sorts, and went on from there. They are large in stature, and and relatively strong. They can move very quickly. Most of their organs are very redundant.
Notes: digestion not fully described. Cancerous biomass is destroyed, and the cells put in enzyme mixtures to assist absorption of broken nutrient. This means when they have their prey being digested, less energy is lost- as food breaks down externally, cancerous biomass absorbs it in the mixture, then they drink the remaining mixture. Fat filter catches metals, sends them to oil glands to make an oil that reflects sunlight. They send out waste through an oil gland in bottom of body. Edits: they have oil glands all over that waste is sent to from the entire body. They use it for defense and waste removal. Oil dies and falls off after 30 minutes in general. They are no longer large, their highest stature is 5 feet in human measurements. They relied on foraging more than hunting on early evolution. They do not break down cancerous biomass specifically now, but routinely replace parts of the body by first destroying it with a separate organ. Prevents cancer without me needing to understand cancer.
Their society is focused on worship of stars and nebulae. They, for that reason, have focused heavily on science. There is high scientific literacy among the Soliph, as it is rooted deeply in their culture. Highly underdeveloped biological and medicinal tech, as their bodies were less of a focus to them. Stars are worshipped because their planet was largely inhospitable in daytime- stars were their salvation, the ‘Merciful Sky.’ Technology never had conflict with secularism, as they meshed perfectly. It was the love of the merciful sky that brought them to the stars, and it was the trust in their power that lead them to joining them.
Addendum: they will not have hatcheries. Soliph use internal birth.
The Ngoh are a race that evolved in rocky tide zones. What was once a bottom feeder fled to land for safety, and conquered a host of bigger problems to keep that. They are now a terrestrial species with powerful cognition and some of the most unique anatomy in more than just their locality.
Soliph homeworld trees, post asteroid. Evolved to let radioactive wind and particulate blow by it, leaving the plant unharmed.
Fivenn (Fihv•inn) concept sketches. Bottom ones were initial ideas, top is the look I’ve settled for right now. Fivenn are native to the Soliph homeworld. Their long legs are optimized for climbing, allowing them to go up the pillar of a Culma. At the top, they cut off the plant material with the scythe on the back of the foreleg, and go to the bottom to eat. Not fast, but can have bursts of speed.
Chelisce (Kel•liss) are speedy little buggers, travel in groups. They try to destroy the limbs of prey animals with clamping ‘claws,’ then let the daytime kill it. Prey mostly on larger animals like the Fivenn.
Concept
The life that evolved on Jupiter was initially algal in nature- it would synthesize energy from the heavy static that bordered the great red spot, some utilized the volatile gases around them. As the lifeforms evolved, a light algae that floated on the dense gases of the red planet, it slowly became more solid- many of the growths linked together to form a sort of platform. As after many years without competition, some life emerged that would graze on the algae. It would drift, consume a large chunk of a platform, then leave. Its lack of competition was able to spell the end of these light floating algaes, until a predator arose. Life there now includes huge amounts of algae bound with particulate, floating on the dense gases and the numerous lifeforms comparable to plankton. The trophic ladders are becoming crowded with filter-feeders and various drifters. Some small amounts of life can go deeper, into the higher pressure zones. Some minute life crosses the red spot to go to other areas. An astounding new development is the much higher complexity in life there- some is seen to be more similar to the advanced plant life on Earth. They are not found for quite some time due to the proximity to the storm- even modern readings are are ruined by the heavy weather there. Whatever the future holds for this odd life will not be known to us- this life will not see true development for quite some time. That, however, is still time to look forward to.
I'm redesigning facial morphology. They can now be expressive! The primary plate lifts a bit, and the horn can move in certain ways (still working on that). They have a small cavity in the primary facial plate that is covered by a membrane that attaches to the fatty filter tissue of the face.A small set of muscles allow them to control how taut said membrane is, the facial plate being lifted controlling how much space is there. They vibrate it and with controls via the green zones, facial level, and air inside have a high vocal range. Because of how they speak, they can talk while both inhaling and exhaling.
The function is meant to be similar to a violin as their speaking.