Sporemonster Spotting, Part 1: Fuzzworm

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Earth at Aphelion
Independence Day, USA
Fourth of July
Independence-From-Meat Day
Anniversary - America the Beautiful (song) Published
Anniversary - "American Top 40" (radio)
Birthday - Koko the Gorilla
Birthday - President Calvin Coolidge (30th President)
Fil-American Friendship Day (Philippines)

Hey, what’s this thing?



This is a fuzzworm, from an as-yet unnamed planet. It’s one of my Spore Creature Creator monsters. So far the ones I did are all variants on the critters who appear in my alien doctor stories. It’s not always easy to get them looking like they do inside my head, but it’s been fun to try.* 

I’ve been thinking of posting a DeviantART gallery with some of the information from all the Hitchhiker’s Guides, but for now I’m just going to start with their Sporemonster selves. People who for some reason read my Doctors! ... in! ... SPACE! stories may be interested in this.

So up there you’ve got the fuzzworm. 

These people have only recently made contact with the Galactic Union. The fuzzworms are sentient beings who evolved to spend all their time in the network of tunnels on their planet, away from harmful solar radiation. Since they stay underground for most or all of their lives, they are eyeless. But they navigate very well using echolocation and the whiskers along their bodies—some of which are super-sensitive to touch, others to heat. (They, in fact, consider species with eyes blind, since so many of those species can be disoriented by something so simple as turning out the light.) They also have a highly discerning nose—that bump above the beak is an olfactory membrane. They are covered with fine, feltlike, midnight-blue fur (except in the case of one mutation that may cause the fur to be a blazing hot pink). They move with rectilinear locomotion, but can speed up using concertina movement, and often they use their arms to pull themselves forward, too. Their hands are very tough and meant for digging, though fuzzworms seem to have evolved these mostly for shoveling loose dirt rather than moving packed earth. Fuzzworms have two sexes, male and female, and their births are live. They are omnivorous, and remain hunters even as they grow greater technology. The large stinger on the end of a fuzzworm’s curled-up tail can be whipped over its head to deliver a deadly neurotoxin to prey—or to any attacker foolish enough to come at the fuzzworm.

Fuzzworm blood is notable its use of an iridium compound to transport oxygen, a system unique among known species. This pigment has some unusual features, but the most notable is that it is photosensitive, and will decompose if exposed to light. This is no problem in the fuzzworms' dark homeland, but it has been a cause of some concern as they move into the often brightly-lit Galactic areas. As most fuzzworms are covered in dark fur, and even the rare pink ones still have fur and dark skin, they are probably safe, but further study is required to determine any possible ill effects of this well-lit environment on their blood.

Due to the structure of their beaks and their blindness, fuzzworms have difficulty with both Spoken and Signed Galactic Common. They can understand Spoken but cannot pronounce it, and they cannot see Signed. Thus, fuzzworms are looking into voice synthesizer technology. Their own languages sound a little like bird twitters, but this is only the beginning: fuzzworms can secrete a large number of different pheromones, and these pheromones are used as prosodic language the same way humans use facial expressions and body language.

Fuzzworm culture is not well-understood right now,** though it is relevant to note that they do not seem to have as much cultural diversity as most planetary populations due to the relatively small area they inhabit and their group’s small size. Fuzzworms seem mostly genial, however—though it should be noted that some are more easily stirred to temper than others. 


**Especially since revealing some aspects before you read the stories would be telling!

*Dear Spore Programmers: More pachydermous parts and eyes that are smaller and less freakish, if you please.

Comments

[gondolinchick01.livejournal.com]

Awww, it's so cute! I love it! Can't wait to see the rest--have you found a good approximation for the Hive yet?

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

How did you screen cap it? I'd like to post a pic of Neogonodactlyus biomekanii :)

Or... I could look at the screen... ::headdesk ::

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Glad I could help. *grin* The blank background (and they've got a funny little group of backgrounds, don't they?) is a transparency, too.

I looked up Neogonodactlyus biomekanii. Very colorful. I'm curious to learn more about it now.

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

It's in the database? Coolness!

The first one was in a game years and years ago, I can't remember the name of it, but you could create a critter, pick it's method of feeding and moving, and eyes and it would go out and feed and breed and you'd get updates. The server it was on shut down years ago.

[10cents.livejournal.com]

Fuzzworms are adorable! I can't wait to see more of your creatures.

Also? Your aliens are a hell of a lot more inventive than mine; all of my sci-fi stories are populated by creatures that follow the Star Trek model of "let's slap some ridges on this guy, and call it an alien!".

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

The Star Trek model has some narrative advantages, though--it makes it easier on the exposition, and opens up different possible storylines. It also has an advantage in the TV medium in that it saves a helluva lot of money. ;) (I remember that they actually tried to explain why everyone looked alike in one episode--apparently a Mysterious Ancient Species "seeded" all sorts of planets with DNA based on their own.)

I think part of my interest in the weird critters comes from my love of weird biology, but a big part of it comes from the fact that I was a Star Wars fan long before I was a Star Trek fan, and the Jim Henson critters made an impression on me. Later, the expanded universe stuff also did, before it jumped the shark so spectacularly.

Plus, they're just so much fun to design!

[10cents.livejournal.com]

I was actually wondering if the types of aliens people are drawn to creating is, at least in part, determined by what type of aliens they saw in their stories growing up--I was raised on Star Trek (no, seriously, you don't even want to get into a discussion about it with me, I'll go on for HOURS), and I didn't get into watching Star Wars until I was an adult. You mention the concept of aliens to me, and my brain jumps instantly to people wearing creative makeup, and it's only after a second that it acknowledges that, yeah, okay, there are other ways that they can look, too.

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Yeah, I grew up on TNG myself. Didn't see "Star Wars" until many years later. I still like both for different reasons, though.

[ellixis.livejournal.com]

Your aliens are fascinating.

DA is kind of a pain, though. If anything, I'd suggest a LJ comm or journal kept for encyclopedic purpose.