I wrote a post yesterday showing an alien I sculpted, Creating Aliens From The Stories I Write, and during the build I was thinking up some lore, so I thought I would share some of those ideas here.
The build isn't finished yet, but I'm hoping to have it done soon, also, I haven't thought of a name for these creatures or their world - I'm hoping by the time I finish it I will.
The Eyes
So, for this build, I ended up going with four eyes, two forward facing, and then two on the sides of their head, which are much smaller.
I was trying to think of how I could justify this decision, and one thing that I thought of is the idea that the smaller eyes are only utilised at night, giving this race the ability to see in the dark.
But, to say that they can see in the dark and have evolved to do so, then what must their planet be like?
Their World
For this races Home-World, I was thinking that it would be interesting if it is shrouded in darkness for most of the cycle year, perhaps for some catastrophic event that took place in the ancient - and forgotten - past.
For them to be able to evolve with this ability, they would need potentially thousands of years - so something major would have had to happen back then to cause such an event.
Maybe their scientists discovered that an asteroid collided with their world that caused a chain reaction of mega-volcanoes to erupt simultaneously, and because of this perfectly choreographed destruction, dust and debris was blown into the stratosphere, resulting in the darkness.
I don't know, that kind of works as an idea in theory, but, our world was struck by an asteroid large enough to be blasted back into space to then form our moon and we're here after all that, with only two eyes and clear skies. Well, actually, there are dark and cloudy skies here in Ireland, and thinking about it, certain villages around our country are home to four-eyed mutants. Hmm, maybe the back story of this alien here isn't too far-fetched.
Their Fashion
So, as you can see in this photo, the creature has a really long neck, which in a way can be tied to their evolution on their mostly dark world. Maybe in extremely low light, plants and trees grow thin and sparse; only producing fruit at the top.
Which may have caused this alien species to grow extremely tall.
As you can see they have really broad shoulders, and as a way to excuse my little mistake in this design, I thought of an idea I actually really liked, and even decided to play into it for the rest of the build.
Once they reached Free Space, this race was very shy and was almost ashamed of their slender frame across the board. Now, some may well have learned to be proud of their lanky features, but the majority wanted to cover up and hide, for two reasons.
- Reason 1 - Cosmetic - They were, in general, self-conscious, and didn't like how they looked.
- Reason 2 - Intimidation - Perhaps they wanted to be taken more seriously by the wider galaxy, especially in a military sense, and maybe even a criminality sense.
Due to the need for respect, they designed armour that was large, bulky, and almost impenetrable. Getting into a suit of armour, was more like getting into a wearable vehicle in a way, and it certainly ramped up the intimidation factor, considering now, they were not only tall but were built like juggernauts.
Scientific Breakthrough
Being slight creatures, without unthinkable muscle mass, they were unable to properly wear the first suits designed and opted to wear fabric versions of them, but as their military started to think of solutions to the issue, their scientists found them.
A.G.E - Anti Gravity Emitters, a device so small, that it could be attached to these suites, which in turn made it almost weightless and easy to wear and operate.
From here, A.G.E's were made larger and became a fundamental part of space travel, which allowed for large cruisers to be constructed on a planet, to then leave the world for the stars.
Before A.G.E, all cruisers had to be constructed out of a planet's atmosphere; in moon bases, or specialised stations. It was time-consuming and too costly, now though, spaceships were cheaper to construct and made them far more numerous, and in only a few decades, they were accessible to all.
Due to this, criminal activity soared; piracy and banditry throughout space became a big problem, but there were many benefits also, like intergalactic emigration, and a far more active trade network.