Coalition Universe Species

[Reliant121]

I can see it =]

[Graham Kennedy]

Put an improved version of the pic up

[Sionnach Glic]

Cool. Very unique.

[Captain Seafort]

Very unique.

Ugh. How can something be "very unique"? If it's unique, that means there's only one of it. If there's more than that, then it's not unique, and if there's fewer than one, then it's non-existent. Hence, there cannot be degrees of uniqueness.

[/rant]

Sorry, but that's a pet hate of mine.

[Graham Kennedy]

Heh, a few years back Tony Blair took to claiming his goal in education was "excellence for everyone". Sounds nice until somebody pointed out that to "excel" meant to do better than others, so Blair was basically saying he wanted a system in which everybody did better than everybody else.

[Captain Seafort]

Hey, this is the same idiot who thought that 50% university attendance was a good idea. What do you expect, intelligence?

[Graham Kennedy]

That's the kind of surreal thinking that seems to drive politicians. The logic seems to be "people with degrees get great jobs... those great jobs are good for the economy... so if we make it really easy to get a degree and lots and lots of people have one, they will all get great jobs and so the economy will be wonderful!"

Rather getting the chain of causality reversed, there.

[Mikey]

Welcome to politics: you don't have to be crazy... but it helps.

[Sionnach Glic]

Ugh. How can something be "very unique"? If it's unique, that means there's only one of it. If there's more than that, then it's not unique, and if there's fewer than one, then it's non-existent. Hence, there cannot be degrees of uniqueness.

Fair point.

[Teaos]

The merge function is weird. You have to pick a topic then say "merge it with that one"... but the one you pick to merge it with goes on first and the one you start with goes last!

Actually I find the mod tools in general quirky and hard to use. See what we mods have to put up with to keep y'all happy?

Umm, I dont think thats the way it works. It puts the posts in the order they were posted in. Since you were merging posts from a topic several weeks old they went to the start of this thread since the earliest post in this thread is only days old.

If you merg two thread that had been active in the same time period you will find the posts get shuffled together in chronological order.

I played around with mod functions quite a lot in the RP forums.

As for the species, very, very interesting.

But one thing I wonder about is there population numbers. From what you said it kind of sounds like they just break a tiny bit of themselves off and it then grows a new individual. Why couldnt they break hundred of tiny bits off each over a few year drastically increasing there numbers, it would seem like they have a greater ability to reproduce than humans do.

[Graham Kennedy]

No, that's not what they do. An adult crystal is a very complex structure. There would be a lump of uranium in the core, thermoelectric layers around it, microprocessor-type stuff around that, then appendages capable of detecting or manipulating electromagnetic fields - sensors and manipulators, essentially. All hardwired into crystal structures in an extremely complex lattice.

If you snapped a bit off at random and dropped it on the ground it might conceivably grow, but it would just grow as a bigger version of that particular crystal. It would be the Human equivalent of dropping a lump of bone on the ground and having it grow into a giant lump of bone.

To reproduce they have to generate a "seed", which would be a much smaller, simplified version of themselves; essentially something that was a "fetus" version of a crystal. It would need a small uranium core and enough brain and structure that it could seek out raw materials around it and start to rebuild and expand upon itself. Creating a seed is no small thing for a Crystal; months of effort would be involved. And growing one from a seed to a full size Crystal would take years more.

These aren't computers, quite. We build computers to be as fantasically complex and capable as we can possibly build them, on purpose. Crystals have evolved naturally over time. Just like the Human brain hasn't evolved to be a super-fast adding machine, the Crystals haven't either. They may run on silicon rather than biology, but they are mentally little faster or smarter than you or I. They're just a very different variety of person is all.

[Graham Kennedy]

THE VAYANA



Status : Coalition members

Vital Statistics (100% = average Human male) :

Height : 210 - 220 cm
Strength : 84 - 97%
Lifespan : 379.1 styr
Mass : 91 - 103 kg
Endurance : 10,000 - 50,000%
Visual Sensitivity : 39%
Aural Range : 120 Hz - 10 kHz
Visual Resolution : 112%
Aural Sensitivity : 67%

Physical :

The Vayana are one of the relatively few sentient vegetable life forms known to the Coalition. They are evolved from a tree-like ancestor which had a a cylindrical mid-body with a cluster of root-like appandages at one end and branch-like appendages at the other. Although usually rooted in the ground, the tree had the ability to uproot itself and move across the ground at speeds of around 20 centimetres an hour. This increased its survival probability by enabling it to seek out more favourable ground conditions. The tree's limbs were also somewhat mobile, enabling it to capture and digest the large birds common to the Vayana home planet in a manner analogous to the Venus fly trap plant on Earth.

Over time the tree evolved greater and greater mobility in both branches and roots, and developed intelligence - most likely as a means to develop better ambush strategies to ensnare prey animals. This led, ultimately, to the Vayana of today.

The Vayana are relatively slow moving, with few able to exceed a speed of 4 metres per second. However, they have virtually unlimited endurance and can perform physical tasks for weeks or months at a time without rest.

Like many plants the Vayana are hermaphroditic, and each individual can fertilise itself if needed. They can also exchange DNA fragments through direct contact in a reproductive process. Vayana can store the DNA of another of their species for years before using it to fertilise seeds at the time of their choice. The DNA fragments are contained within pollen-type particles which the Vayana emits from small pores on the tips of their branches, and are exchanged by simple contact between branches.

The Vayana are capable of sustaining tremendous physical damage - they can literally be cut in half and each half will re-grow into a full individual.

Cultural :

The Vayana value patience, and will rarely support quick decisions or actions. They are amongst the Coalition's greatest philosophers, and their culture values philosophy above most art, science or technology. They are fascinated by games or puzzles of all kinds, and are widely regarded as experts in these fields.

There are few cultural taboos concerning the reproductive act, and most Vayana will exchange DNA with virtually every other member of their species that they meet - sexual activity is more akin to a handshake than anything approximating Human sexual activity.

The Vayana make reasonable soldiers. Although they are not fast or agile physically and are not generally well suited to rapid decision-making, they are difficult to kill and posessed of tremendous physical endurance. They provide a lower than average level of hardware and personnel to the Coalition military, making up for this by contributing funds to assist several other members to boost their own obligations.

The Vayana are native to the planet Myxalat.

[Graham Kennedy]

Updated

[Monroe]

Awesome new vegetable. You should throw something in your other universe thread about a religious movement on Earth among some vegetarian society that tore apart because they couldn't agree on eatting plants as being moral anymore

I do wonder what them and the crystal people wear for uniform. Even if they cannot really wear one without looking goofy do they have insigina? Maybe a blue stash or scarf thing.

Also WTB some non-Colalition members
I'm a big fan of the universe you've created can't wait to see more.

And GK to check out my fantasy universe thread

[Graham Kennedy]

Awesome new vegetable. You should throw something in your other universe thread about a religious movement on Earth among some vegetarian society that tore apart because they couldn't agree on eatting plants as being moral anymore

lol. I haven't really thought about what the Vayana's attitude to vegetarians would be. We don't mind people eating meat, I guess.

I do wonder what them and the crystal people wear for uniform. Even if they cannot really wear one without looking goofy do they have insigina? Maybe a blue stash or scarf thing.

I've done uniforms for the roughly humanoid folk, but I haven't really puzzled out how a Vayana would wear a uniform yet, let alone a Crystal!

Also WTB some non-Colalition members
I'm a big fan of the universe you've created can't wait to see more.

There are plenty of non-Coalition ones around, don't worry

And GK to check out my fantasy universe thread

I surely will.