 June 15, 2011 - 12:52pm | Single-sex: Agamogenesis, Hermaphroditic Autogamy, and other forms of Homothallic reproduction, to name a couple. Many of these might be non-gametic or sologameteic, but I'll keep them lumped into one category for brevity. Digameteic: The many heterothallic varients of - Polymorphism, and a few varients of Hermaphroditic homogamy and dichogamy Some may be homothallic, but require a two gamete process. Even if it is same gendered gamete, this is really where Sexual Dimorphism starts to become a factor, creating recognizable 'gender physiques', while below this such cosmetics would be possible, dimorphisim would be as superfluous as sex itself. Trimorphic - Digametism: Male - Female - Incubator Adding a new 'gender physique' doesn't require a new gamete, while adding a new gamete may be more tricky. Quadrimorphic - Digametism: Male -> Syngamier-> Incubator Female -> Again, simply adding a new 'gender physique' doesn't require a new gamete. Quintemorphic - Quadrigametism: Male A -> <- Female B Syngamier Female A -> | <- Male B V (Brooding Pool) Multiple gamete and multiple 'gender physique' variants, while adding automatic 'population rebalance' methods solves many weak link issues. Sextegameteic - Dimorphisim: Hermaphrodea A -|- Hermaphrodeo B Hermaphrodea C -|- Hermaphrodeo D Hermaphrodea E -|- Hermaphrodeo F V (Spawning Pool) Including multiple 'gender physique' and gamete doesn't necessitate complications, and can be eloquently simple. While methods to ensure automatic repopulating of depleted gamete providers is also possible, especially in advanced cultures. Septemorphic - Sextegametism: Male-i Hermaphrodea A-i | Hermaphrodea B-i \ | / Incubator / | \ Hermaphrodeo A-ii | Hermaphrodeo B-ii Female-ii Systems that appear complex in form, can be quite simple when inclusions of cultural structure are understood. Sapience, and the culture that is born of it, can reinforce safe-guards and adapt to reduce potential risks also. And this only scratches the surface... why is there no awesome atomic-rocket powered website for this subject, or even so much as a serious wikipedia entry? Anyway this is for general discussion of non-earth reproductive strategies of possibility, some note of 'how-likely' is of course welcome. The premise here isn't to discuss how likely, but to discuss mere viability of, and arrangements in, the biologically possible. I would say it's unlikely to be too far off of the 'earth-norms' which are already quite varied. I would think most species would use either a form of self-cloning, hermaphroditic stratagem, agamogenesis, or binary sexual reproduction. Using more than 2 gametes... or whatever form of information supply... I would say it's possible, in all honesty to have more, as humans have a lot more variation in genders on a biological level than we usually assume. But, when it comes to actual procreation it ultimately involves 2 gamete or their variants. I would expect that, if we saw hundreds of planets with life on them, that single and dual gender reproduction would account for the vast, vast majority of styles. Arrangements requiring more than 2 genders would probably be very low, and arrangements of Self-cloning, Agamogenesis, and outright Longevity Regeneration, would be higher than bisexual dimorphism (as has been commonly attributed to humans)... That said it should not be treated as too serious of a biological science discussion, but only to maintain a grounding in science for the sake of the fiction... the rule with "1 percent of approaching infinity" states; that if its possible, that's all that counts to be likely... nor am I looking for lots of hand-wavium to explain away impossibles... but I'm respectful of any ideas that have been used or seen, by anyone willing to drop a little inhibition and contribute to discussions of strange sexual tendencies in fictional alien species... I have been trolling the nets for weeks now, looking for sex with aliens... so far I have had little luck... *sigh* So, I have opened topic to a broader category than discussed in the specific alien reproduction threads, [imho] dealing with often overly reduced and 'humanized' variants of their listed reproduction, just to see what comes up as different and alien among the mass minds of these forums. Oh humans!!  We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
 June 15, 2011 - 5:22pm | Oh for the stamina of a dragon fly!!!!
Though I my pretty sure I'd loose interest after the first 35 hours. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 15, 2011 - 8:33pm | Unfortunately, dragonfly stamina might be a result of reduced effort and pleasure, so boredom might come quicker than that even... I'd settle for the minks and sables, and still have time to sleep in a day... Being the only Syngamic Gender in a Quintesexual Brooding Species sounds like fun, you can party with four-mates every day and hot-tub solo every night... only major responsibility is keeping the pool healthy, and you get to use your biology as your excuse!!!  Being the only Seven Tentacled Male Gender in an Octesexual Species by contrast just sounds lame... which is why I stopped at seven with my charts...  Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
 June 15, 2011 - 11:27pm | Well ain't this a dusty kick in the ol' Captain's spaceballs! I just got done with my 30th alien race write-up for my SF website. Went cross-eyed writing "heterosexual vivparous, heterosexual oviparous, hermaphrodidic viviparous, hermaphrodidic oviparous, heterophrodidic vivioviparous, heterophrodic oviviviparous and and and genetic construction. And don't you tell ME 'bout sex with aliens. I sleep next to a woman that has hair curlers, a blue mask, and big fluffy pink feet! Even tried communicating with her using Pan Galactic, but haven't as yet made any progess. Her mouth moves and makes sounds, but whatever she's saying, I least I know that there's a hot meal waiting for me somewhere at the end of it.  My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
 June 16, 2011 - 3:05pm | I think there would be an upper limit to the amount of genders...and it would probably be pretty low, say 3. The reason I say this is because any species that requires such a level of complexity for something as important to survival as reproduction would be vulnerable to disruption of the process.
Reasonable men adapt to the world around them; unreasonable men make the world adapt to them. The world is changed by unreasonable men. Edwin Louis Cole |
June 16, 2011 - 3:13pm | Well stated jacobsar I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 17, 2011 - 7:38pm | Yes, well stated indeed, almost exactly as I said but more concise... I believe most would be of the single-gender, duogender, or perhaps trigender, beyond that I think probability would turn to a sharp drop off... possible but improbable... but improbable counted to universal scale approaches infinity... That is something that has been reasonably well established in several topics around the net, but descriptions of the possible, no matter how improbable, is what I find lacking... any ideas on how arrangements of four or more genders co-existing in a single generation is (and no argument to this from me) apparently quite alien to human thinking... Four genders is the highest number I have seen well represented... but it was still only trigameteic [iirc]... The Andorians have had in some incarnations of canon been shown with a trigameteic-quadgender with two male-physiques each supplying one-half of the male gamete requirement, and placing the two female-physiques into an egg providing syngamier and a final incubator relationship... the specific canon this comes from dealt with the problems of 'weak link' tendencies in complex reproduction strategies, the problem was described as being exasperated by their leap into interstellar society, and a solution was eventually found possible through advanced interstellar research, and suposedly they made minor adjustments to repopulate the dying link. The final outcome of these problems, however, have yet to be reconciled in any canon I am aware of... The Tenctonese were shown in what was apparently a duogameteic-trigender arrangement, a pair of Male Physiques; a male gamete provider and a female gamete provider, delivered each half to an Incubator with Female Physique... the partial gestation was then delivered back to a primary-male, that continued to term in a near-marsupial-like womb/pouch. It was never stated whether the Incubator provided any genetic contribution, though implications suggested not... Thus far I am still finding no suitable alternative for this, without adding the, sub-genders Syngamier and Incubator, that I still find difficult to arrange comfortably. Otherwise, I am left with alternating generations that may eventually shift into a simultaneous population over time, or the merging of separate species into A/B homogeneitic single species arrangements... as possibly seen in a couple earth-natives... so I still leave the question open to any alternatives than have been used or seen used, in any fact, fiction, or imaginative leap of fantasy... Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
June 25, 2011 - 10:19pm | To be more precise, other than a handful of small articles on topics where unusual arrangements have been explored in high-profile fiction; Star Trek, Star Wars, Alien Nation... this is really the best I can find... and even the wiki pages, and the few other hard-science sites I have found, give little in the way of accounting for the diversity of just the earth biosphere... let alone the (sometimes debated and often ambiguous), biodiversity and sexual morphisms, shown in humans themselves... large gaps are missing in the various sources. I know there is more than this, as the science fiction (and fantasy) genres have had examples of much more variety, and frequently detailed very feasible approaches to biological diversity on a galactic scale. I have been compiling a list of sci-fi books that have been suggested in various places, to use as a check-list, some I have read, many I have not. For those who might have been wondering about some of the terms I've used, I have [atm] decided to define certain terms, where I have had little to go by in proper biology and grammar; Gender Physique = The physical form, polymorphic phenotype, or 'sexual morphism' of a particular caste within a species, specifically as relates to the overall reproductive strategy divergent from other polymorphic castes. Seperated into the following catagories: Anderm = Self-sufficient non-gender non-sexual reproduction, presence of gamete is irrelevant, genetic contribution is self-contained. This is fully Self-Contained Hermaphroditism, and might be called 'single-gender' depending on other specifics. Non-gender specific pronouns are most proper. Andro-herm = Sexual Hermaphrodite Allogamy and non-sexual Hermaphrodite Autogamy reproduction, both gamete are present and tradable between any two Herm, self-fertilization is also possible. This is Synchronous Hermaphroditism, and might also be called 'single-gender' depending on other specifics. Non-gender and Hermaphrodite specific are proper, female pronouns or the speakers gender are commonly accepted. Herm = Sexual Hermaphrodite Homogamy reproduction, both gamete are present and tradable between any two Herm, not self-contained. This is Synchronous Hermaphroditism that may require some temporary 'gender roles' or may involve some sexual morphisim. Self-fertilization is not possible and requires at least one Herm partner, or a Male/Female or Merm/Ferm pair-partner. Non-gender and Hermaphrodite specific are proper, female pronouns or the speakers gender are commonly accepted. Female= The larger ovum gamete provider. Requires one or more other gender physiques for reproduction. Reproduction is not self-contained; Male, Herm, Andro-herm, or Merm is required for the sperm. Ferm Types may be required or be self-contained in the Female. Female pronouns are proper. Male= The smaller sperm gamete provider. Requires one or more other gender physiques for reproduction. Reproduction is not self-contained; Female, Herm, Andro-herm, or Merm is required to provide ovum. Ferm Types may be required or be self-contained in the Male. Male pronouns are proper. Merm = Provides both ovum and sperm gamete. Requires one or more other gender physiques for reproduction. Reproduction is not self-contained; Herm, Andro-herm, Merm or Ferm Types may be required. Male pronouns are proper, the speakers gender is commonly accepted. Ferm Types: Ferm are technically specialist-neuts, that do not provide a gamete or any other (significant) genetic material. The sub-types may be applied to one of the previous gender physiques. If Ferm are not present, and the mechanisms and processes for fertilization and incubation are not provided for in another gender physique, then methods such as laying-eggs, external fertilization of laid-eggs, and spawning pools are some of the possible alternatives. Self-fertilization is not possible and requires at least one Merm or Herm as a partner, or a Male/Female pair-partner. Female pronouns are proper, the speakers gender is commonly accepted. Brooder = The provider of the chamber(s) for the entire fertilization and incubation process. Syngamier = The provider of the chamber(s) for only the fertilization mechanisms to occur. Incubation process is not provided and must be conducted by other means or gender physiques. Incubator= The provider of the chamber(s) for the gestation/incubation processes only. Fertilization mechanisms are not provided and must be conducted by other means or gender physiques. Neut = Fully genderless, no provisions for sexual reproduction possible, may contribute via indirect methods; Nursemaids, Nannies, or Guardians. This represents all non-gendered/sterile members of a phenotype caste in a species, and may be subdivided into specialists. Neutral pronouns are proper, the speakers gender is commonly accepted. Theoretically, I think this could provide for a species having up to nine seperate gender physiques, after which attaching Alpha, Beta, etc.. tags to those duplicated could provide terms for more... Multiple Neut-varients born from a single Anderm 'queen' being the most obvious choice for such a high-count, I think... Anyway, it is the best I have come up with on my own so far, omitted here is Sequential and Generational Polyphenism, which could occur between any gender physiques, and other variations that are not single-generational simultaneous sexual morphisms... I still don't think more than trimorphic or quadmorphic is likely to dominate in a species reproductive strategy, unless you start counting multiple task specialist Neuts, but it is nice to have diverse possible arrangements even for dimorphic variations... personally I prefer fewer sexual dimorphic aliens, as it doesn't seem to be the 'best' method nature has offered either. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
June 20, 2011 - 7:11am | Me thinks thespiritcoyote over thinks things to much.
I read the previous post and the only thing that is clearer to me now is the definition of brooder. You loose me dude and I have a college education. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 20, 2011 - 8:46am | Takes one to loose one... sorry... Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
 June 20, 2011 - 4:40pm | Your research should help me. I've been doing reproductive research for my own Gamma Dawn revision project. I think this may help me make a little more sense of it. I'll try to contribute something as soon as I can. (Though that's not technically "soon", but "when I get to it.") View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
June 20, 2011 - 9:22pm | kewl if you have been doing anything close to this, I feel for you, I have found it a bit of a struggle to find any usable resources... If this helps AWESOME!! if you get something useful out of it, indeed share...  Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
June 20, 2011 - 10:03pm | Not sure if any of you have a copy of "Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials" lying about on your dusty sci-fi bookshelves, but there's a couple of alien race descriptions among the 50 races in there that have some wild alien reproductive descriptions. For example, the Cygnan ("The Jupiter Theft" by Donald Moffit) is a 1.5 m tall multi-limbed three-eyed creature that is female, and it's mate is a small, beetle-looking parasite that both feeds on the female AND does the deed once in awhile. Technically heterosexual, but like ...ew. Then you have the Dirdir ("The Dirdir" by Jack Vance). Dirdir males have 12 different types of sexual organs, and the females have 14 different types of sexual organs. Each type is compatible with one or more types of the other gender, and each type has certain traditional cultural attributes. Again heterosexual, but like holy crap! There's certainly more, but as I have the book in my hands right now (points at his book) and you guys don't, you'll just have to rely on the ol' Captain's posts for now.  My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
June 20, 2011 - 11:30pm | Kewl Katepán?!! Cygnan sounds like a south-pacific angelfish, The Dirdir I would like to see more of, the B5 Centauri come to mind... have to track down a couple books  ... Thank you, Danke, Arigatou, Seren Rags!!  "Barlowe's G2E" is about to hit my watch lists...Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
June 21, 2011 - 8:07am | Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials is out of print actually. I had to purchase mine through ebay ('good' condition = $11). It was delivered by my illustrious employer in only 1 week. I added both the Cygnan and the Dirdir to my SF website. Tweeked the Cygnan though; instead of the beetle being the parasitic male and the 1.5 m tall Cygnan being only female, I have either sex as the 1.5 m version, and the beetle is a pet parasite about as smart as a dog. The beetle hangs out on their bodies eating various fungi and molds that tend to grow on them. My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
June 21, 2011 - 11:45pm | I saw that about a week ago, and was actually inspired to wonder about making something like it where extreme sexual dimorphisim selected for the beetle-pets as male gamete carriers, treated much like dogs...  kewl,Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
June 22, 2011 - 7:42am | The beetle companion (called a "Quick Bug") is smart enough to perform simple tricks like push a given button that its Cygnan host points to, and retrieve a pencil the Cygnan accidently dropped, but is not strong enough to for instance fetch the Cygnan's space-slippers or bring him his morning space-newspaper. What player wouldn't want their alien player character to have a smart loyal pet hanging out on their shoulder, eh? Well, that's if it is a type of alien PC that actually HAS shoulders I mean.  My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
June 23, 2011 - 6:44am | Right, that's what I was thinking, who wouldn't want a smart cuddly pet bug to do all their little comfort chores... loyalty to the mistress only needing to be rewarded with food, a pat on the head, and an egg... hanging out in a marsupial-like pouch on the hostess in down-time... Personally I like the egg-provider as sapient, in this case the little bug takes the rewarded egg into the matrons pouch to brood it... or in higher culture progression a small brooder-box in the resident quarters. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
June 23, 2011 - 8:06am | Agreed. Honestly, when I initially read about the Cygnan, I wasn't exactly jazzed. But as I worked out 'the bugs' during the racial write-up, I started to like the species; its refreshingly different approach to alien sexuality, and the playability of the race for my SF campaign here in the armpit of our great nation. I'll keep you posted on how a Cygnan PC fairs here when (or if) a player in my group chooses to run one. My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
June 25, 2011 - 11:26pm | this gets into identity issues and genetic tendencies, and might not be for all audiences... but if you have hung on to the rest of the Xenosexuality topic ... umm ... and really find this hard xenofiction sci-fi alienness interesting ... it might be worth mentioning... Further thought on the Herm/Bug reproductive symbiosis; there could have been four basic enclaves of strategy, Herms that predominantly chose Merm-pets for male gamete, Herms that predominantly chose Merms for female gamete, they could have had higher genetic diversity over time, and eventually begin to split the Merm Bugs into Female and Male providers... Herms that balanced their Merm-pets gamete usage, could have also had higher genetic diversity and possibly population over time, but the Merm Bugs could have retained their dual gender role... and Herms that predominantly chose Ferms for agamogenesis brooders... the last two could have decreased diversity and population... The first two could be showing signs of inverse selection for gamete production, become polarized opposite their pets-genders, but at a slower rate... The last two could be most balanced in their 'natural gender' retaining full strength viability of there Herm reproduction... the last group are the smallest by population but the most 'pure strain' having come closest to a surrogate cloning reproductive strategy, with little change in their diversity over time... Can be used as one of the bases for cultural variations for the species, and gives a player the option to play a born half-gendered ('male' or 'female'), but with the stigma of being a 'new-mutation' half-gendered freak and a misunderstood minority within the society... tsk, tsk, tsk... some enlightened and educated members of the philanthropic community would be attempting to help these poor unfortunates and cure the genetic deformity in the species, some fanatic purists would be less hospitable to the possibility of genetic contamination in an already dwindling gene-pool... Gender pronouns, while I had thought originally that the various gender physiques might have common pronouns attached to them as was shown on one of the linked sites... I am not so sure that is appropriate in all cases... some mix and match strategies with multiple sexual morphisms could have 'gender' pronouns for all sorts of specifics inherent to their own common identities... for instance, if there are three types of male, one queen brooder, and several neuters then they would all be identified by such separations of pronoun usage separately... the males are not all 'male' (he, him, his) pronoun, and the neuts are likely specialized workers each with a task specific 'gender identiy' not all using the same 'neutral gender' pronoun... but that sorta gets into conlanging I suppose, though it seemed relevant here [atm] to mention... ... ahh well ... just somemore confusing xenobable and perplexing biology exposition ... hope there were two camels humping each other in the background somewhere to distract everyone... Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
June 26, 2011 - 10:12am | TSC wrote: "... ahh well ... just somemore confusing xenobable and perplexing biology exposition ... hope there were two camels humping each other in the background somewhere to distract everyone..." Well you know the old saying about allowing your camel's nose into your tent.  I was hoping after reading more of "Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials" that of the 50 alien species described in its pages, there would have been more reproductive possibilities exampled. Some of the species are so out there that there's no way for me to morph any of them into my SF campaign, at least from a player character perspective. Definitely useful for indigenous NPC encounters however, which I can always use. There's another book I stumbled on in my google searches (forget the name at the moment) that I'll likely buy. It spectulates on possible alien life, what they might look like logically, etc. I'll certainly post back with more on the book after I get my greedy green tentacles on it. (oh damn, should have said 'hands' so not to blow my cover here on this crappy little confused planet.) My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
September 12, 2011 - 8:32am | Putting a Black Cloud in an encounter suit just to make it playable, and using the Athshean as a "Alien of the week" or as some established colony's "Sasquatch"... is still viable... but not real catchy... ...so get creative... put a race of plasma-entity ergivores in a gas giant (Aniplasmu) around some neutron or wolf-rayet star, give the Aniplasmu organic-suits built/grown on suitable moons such that they resemble furry green semi-intelligent amphibians with 'cattle-like' behavioral domestication's, some of these in turn live as shamanic tree worshipers (as they are born from "creation pods" of large trees, and gain sustenance from fruit and nut orchards...) in one of the moon's (Athshreantun's) deep dark forests while waiting for an operator... The Aniplasmu "Black Clouds" are very long-lived, but a time tells of the "galactic purge" in their ancient theology, where all harmful life was purged by The Source of Life and Death to make way for the Aniplasmu to reign as the new Masters of the Cosm (which to them is only as large as thermal energy can be detected by the most sensitive "plant-eyes" they can "build"... a little under a light year...) ... hmmm no I guess the Aniplasmu fails to be an adequate player species... the Athshreantun might be ok if you don't mind a low-intelligence and highly superstitious, slightly near-sighted, mentaly primitive species from a society based on a shamanistic variant of an (not-so-)ancient alien [theory] theocracy as a player race tho'... but being it is a hostile star, and since no one ever has sex or has even heard of porn in this system, and no one really has any use for a keg or it's contents, it's not exactly a fun place to wind up anyway... oh well, not a prime vacation spot for a first-contact party... but might make an interesting unscheduled stop before trying to get away (and then loosing the positional-data for the star anyway... easier yet if incomplete stellar cartography survey was made, due to strange occluding nebulous-plasmas in the system... possibly wolf-rayet-like or other anomolous proto-planetary structures...) ...and you HAVE to get away, before being bored to death in this no-where's-ville or forced into a game of Rorschach-charades by a bunch of semi-physical alien clouds. (oops... STAR FRONTIERS... NOT... Teenagers From Outer Space... I'll get it right, just let me refocus...) Or roll three dice, and combine the results from those pages, into any grab-bag you can think of... Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
November 29, 2011 - 5:06am | Unusual Behaviors - sexual cannibalism This is not a likely behavior to survive intact the rise to sapience, sentience, and society as such organized social canabalisim becomes somewhat antithetical to the higher diversity and development of an evolving species. Not an impossible trait to carry forward, but a highly unlikely one - outside of say, as an oversight in an abandoned uplift program, as this trait suggests itself as a halmark of an accelerated evolutionary period, in which advanced mental awareness and advanced social culture is a relatively new phenomenon - that has not had time to affect other changes to more 'primitive' behaviors. In order to offset this behavior, however, some rigid social behaviors and additional unusual biological imperitives may develop within the species to reduce the tendency of this behavior to have a widespread impact on intra-species survivability of targeted genders. If the threatened gender(s) are also intelligent and discerning creatures and not mindless drones, intelligent selection will most likely reduce the stratagem to vestigal behavior over time, and discerning social systems will reduce it's effects by instituting protective countermeasures, but as mentioned it may not remove it 'enough' not to leave certain impacts on society. Irrelevant to the intelligence of the threatened gender(s), behavioral strategies may develop as they have in some males of some Terran-arachnids. Some males trick the female with food offerings to keep their ravenous need for caloric intake at bay, and their attention off the enticingly close male. Some male spiders apply forceful stratagies, having the female tied down with threads. If the threatened gender(s), have no recourse to intelligent strategy, simple swarms and aggressive dominance may become the behavioral order, overwhelming the "more dangerous gender" in mob or pack tactics. Such ‘forced copulations’ becoming a biological necessity, this may set the tone of entire cultures, and the morality overview in general. Advanced Culture and social order will be colored by certain provisions and institutions to restrict dangerous mating practices... ie. poor males who cannot afford food-treats for the females, may be able to acquire free food from special government or faith-based reserves, or may not be allowed to enter "red-districts" at all without suitable reserves on hand, for the danger implied on their life. - females may intentionally submit themselves to known "red-districts" and the sexual-predations of roving packs of aroused mates. - and what Human standards may call pornography and sex-exploitation, may become cultural pastimes, as internationally broadcast sports and survival education films are sanctioned by altruistic considerations of gender survivability. Finally gender-based segregation, and with it; social dissociation, unfamiliarity, and even intollerance can be considered an exponent, rising with perceived threat, and contributing significantly in a 0-point-species cultural-collapse, by the hands of an "Armageddon-clock" before reaching an interstellar Type-I Civilization. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
November 29, 2011 - 5:45am | studies of sexual canniblism among spider species that practice this show that when a male successfully catapults himself into the jaws of the female that he manages to sire more off spring then males that survive the mating process. Its assumed that allowing the female to eat him also allows him to pass on more sperm. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 29, 2011 - 6:56am | OK remembering that among insect species arachnids tend to be loners so the idea of them forming a society would have to be based on being able to raise sufficient food stocks to sustain a group in sufficient numbers to allow some members to have time to work on other areas such as science, philosophy and religion. My thinking is that in order for a spider species to develop reproduction would have to be very tightly controlled so that the best members of the species would be allowed to reproduce with little randomness. Something like contests to see who gets to sacrifice themselves. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
November 29, 2011 - 8:03am | Some spiders are social, in South America some have been seen in hive-like arrangements... and I SWEAR I observed the most unusal ant/spider inter-species cooperative, launch an assault on my trash-bin... I watched for nearly three hours as they, got in, got out, and left with bits of food, it was the behavior of the cooperating spiders that did at first get my attention. I noticed the ants later in the observation, and noted the manner in which the ants were not the target of the spider-swarm, but both seemed to be aware of the other, even responsive to each others needs. I have no official explanation... I think it was a weather balloon or Venus... but I saw something. The manner in which some species show "self-sacrificial-mating" behaviour within the context, is also part of the idea of the "red districts" being potentially broadcast as arena-sports and survival-training films, and the individuals that enter these specially allocated zones are doing so at their own risk. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
November 29, 2011 - 8:23am | Perhaps sexual cannibalism is best reserved for the klikk species. Males are warrior and females rule the roost. When an especially large and successful warrior is chosen for a mating he gets the mother of all matings and the flood of endorphins and hormones overpowers his pain centers as the female eats him, a successful mating can go on for hours as his autonomic nervous system keeps the males body going as a the female dervives nutrients from his juicy for brain. Perhaps there is a size disparity and more than one male jumps on the female and the species practices "tramatic insemination" where the female does not actually have genitalia but instead the males puncture her body directly with a stinger like organ and pump in their seed, only one male gets eaten but others opportunistically pass on their genes. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 29, 2011 - 1:48pm | Would then explain why they could have become interested in "transhumanizing" their species as has been suggested elsewhere. Achieving any significant level of genetic engineering could become a work-around to severe "traumatic coercion" & "imminently fatal" strategies, and the behavior could even be the catalyst that spurs early and pressed research into the field, as soon as the possibility and promise of the technology is conceived. Such "unnatural tampering" of what is normally a natural process would still be potentially a moral dilemma, but the pragmatically viewed benifits would possibly have more impact on the scholars and philosophers of the species. The potential for such a severe division in opinions about the nature of "natural" and "self-improvement" could escalate a high degree of conflict, within a society that has universally assessable reasons to determine a fundamental flaw in their very being. Indeed should such a self-determined failing gain significant support, it could even drive an entire species to technical insanity. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
 November 30, 2011 - 10:46am | i just popped in to say that I included a table in the Star Frontier's (UPF) Administrator's guide (page 47) that lists the most common types of reproduction found among non terestrials in the UPF universe. these are; Asexual, Polycyclic (seasonal births) Asexual, Semelparus (one birth lifetime) Asexual, Parenthogenesis Asexual, Budding Asexual, Spore production Hermaphroditic, Parenthogenesis Hermaphroditic, Polycyclic Hermaphroditic, Semelparus Hermaphroditic, Spore production Heterosexual, Egg laying Heterosexual, Polycyclic Heterosexual, Semelparus Heterosexual, Spore production I know there may be more exotic types, but these are the most common ones found in my universe. I hope this helps. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 30, 2011 - 11:18am | most appreciated Deryn Rys... I see a few oversights of mine, contained in your list... XD I'll get right on it... XD Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
November 30, 2011 - 12:20pm | Looks good now if I can only find my dictionary. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
