 February 7, 2012 - 11:52am | Yo! :) I'm beginning work on a new world for a new project. At this time I've dubbed the new world 'Lemuria', but that is subject to change. The general plan is to have this new world be a water world, well mostly anyway. 98% water and 2% dry land (in the form of intermittent islands of varying sizes). The climate will be tropical to temperate planet-wide. Pretty much the Caribbean on a planetary scale. Great place to vacation - so bring your Bermuda shorts and rum! I have ideas for about a dozen life forms for this world. But I'd like it to be teaming with life (triple or even quadruple what I have now!) so I was wondering if anyone else would care to offer some ideas to be added to this project? If so, please feel free to add them to this thread! :) The vast majority of the action will be taking place underwater. I plan to have an extinct advanced technology civilization to discover. The players will be able to investigate the civilization's demise and maybe salvage some tech items. I haven't decided about the tech yet, so if anyone wishes to throw out some ideas for advanced underwater tech that the players would be able to take home with them, that would be nice. The extinct race will have been amphibious nature so I'm considering the use of energy shielding surrounding their cities in order to keep their cities from becoming completely submerged. I was wondering about the viability of using massive inertia screens for that and would love any input about whether or not that is viable. Their cities will actually be massive towers anchored to the sea floor and extending to the surface. One tower equals one city. Previously I noted that this race will be extinct. I do plan to have some nefarious bad guy race that the investigation will eventually point to. The sathar come to mind - but it would be awfully nice to use someone else for a change. If anyone has any ideas concerning that, it would be fun to hash it out. :) I don't have to outrun that nasty beast my friend...I just have to outrun you!  |
 February 7, 2012 - 2:34pm | Can't be sure if I already proposed this for the planet Fairs in the Rim butwhat about saragasso weed, a huge floating mass of weed covering square km of ocean surface. A danger to boats, a habitat for prey and predators, and blocks light light beneath it. More ideas latter. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 7, 2012 - 2:44pm | Sounds good Jed! I'll add it to the list. :) As far as the critters go, the vast majority will need to be aquatic or semi-aquatic. But there will be some land so terestrial critters would be welcomed to. Just bear in mind the geography we're dealing with; small-ish tropical islands. Also, I should be clear; I plan to submit this to SFMan when it's done, so any suggestions need to be free of entanglements from other works and works in progress. :) I don't have to outrun that nasty beast my friend...I just have to outrun you! |
February 7, 2012 - 3:19pm | Some ideas for this extinct race's advanced technology: Inertia shielding: But on a huge scale to hold back the water from their cities. Towers/cities: As part of their 'advanced tech' I'm considering having their towers/cities essentially made from coral. Their tech would involved being able to 'grow' coral in whatever shapes and designs they wish and as well, to stimulate rapid coral formation so that their cities don't take hundreds or thousands of years to 'grow'. I was thinking their energy source could be geo-thermal vents on the sea floor. Maybe that in conjunction with wave action. Energy rendered from hydrogen might be good too. Bio-tech: Similar to growing living coral to fashion their cities out of, they also bio-engineer 'vehicles'. For example; bio-engineering a whale to have a few hollow chambers in its body. Entering the mouth of the creature will gain the occupant access to the hollow chambers, which can then be sealed off with a fleshy membrane. They may have to also incorporate some actual hard technology as well - cybernetics on a larger scale. Huge whales for larger transports. Large sharks and/or giant squids for attack vehicles. Large rays for smaller personal transports. Large tuna-like fish if you want something 'sporty'! The players could find some of these creatures bio-engineered as such, but still capable of breeding. Any cybernetically enhanced creatures will have long since perished as their life cycle ended. But maybe they could come across computer data banks with detailed instructions about the implants. Maybe an automated medical facility that can implant the cybernetics. Maybe they could have bio-tech on a smaller scale to. Animals incorporated into their weapons? Likely their weapons would rely heavily on needler-like designs using spines from sea creatures, etc. I don't have to outrun that nasty beast my friend...I just have to outrun you! |
February 7, 2012 - 7:36pm | Creatures I've got in the works now: 01) Ray-like creature: Semi-intelligent (like a dolphin). Can fly (like a flying fish). The body would be ray-like but it would have a plesiosaur-like neck and head. 02) Starfish-like creature: Large starfish-like creature except, instead of being shaped like a 5-point star, this beast would be shaped more like a three-tined fork. The two outer 'tines' would be whip-like 'arms' that end in bony blades used for spearing prey. The middle 'tine' would be a plesiosaur-like neck and head. The 'handle' of the fork shaped creature would be a powerful fluke shaped like that of a whale (up & down rather than side to side). 03) Sea-slug like creature: But on a huge scale - 100 meter length and 40 meter diameter! It is a filter feeder, drifting through the sea with its mouth open, swallowing anything that gets sucked in. It moves by way of water jets. As it gulps in water and closes its mouth, that huge volume of water gets 'squirted' through gill-like vents on the sides of the beast just behind its head and propels the beast forward at a leisurely pace. 04) Seahorse-like creature: Except much larger (about the size of a human) and with a fish-like tail instead of a curly-q seahorse tail. Two powerful 'arms' about where a human would have arms, but instead of hands it has flippers. Three-foot long neck ending in a plesiosaur-like head. 05) Worm-like creature: Huge worm-like creature that secretes a resin around its body. This resin collects sand as the worm wriggles around on the sea floor and then hardens into segmented, silicon plates. This worm is a voracious predator with huge teeth. 06) Angler fish-like creature: About man-sized, deep sea dwelling somewhat humanoid-shaped beast. Mouth full of wicked teeth, very bad disposition! 07) Seal-like creature: Man-sized seal-like mammal. Not much of a threat, but inquisitive and could harm sensitive equipment by investigating it. 08) Lamprey eel-like creature: Would have leech-like abilities. Man-sized. 09) Sea Lilly-like creature: Lilly beds covered with these creatures. When the bed is disturbed (passing swimmer for example), they release a cloud of polyps in the water. These polyps aggressively attach themselves to the creature that disturbed the sea lilies and subdues the prey in some manner not yet decided upon. 10) Funnel worm-like creature: Buries itself in the sediment and leaves it's twelve tentacle-like arms (radiating out from its center) lying in a star-burst pattern on the sea floor. If an prey animal passes close enough, the tentacle snap shut around the creature and drag it toward the central squid-like beak for vivisection and consumption. 11) Lion fish-like creature: Small and packed with powerful poison that is delivered via spines protruding from the dorsal and pectoral fins. 12) Electric eel-like creature: Large enough to short out electrical systems of small boats. Of course, if I go with the bio-engineering idea I'll need to whip up some whales, squids, sharks and rays to be bio-engineered. I don't have to outrun that nasty beast my friend...I just have to outrun you! |
February 7, 2012 - 7:07pm | I was thinking that you could have a carnivore class like the shark. Most sharks are harmless, a few are dangerous, the largest is a filter feeder. If you had a dangerous carnivore which the PC's encounter then they meet a giant version and don't know its a filter feeder do they shoot on sight? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
