Comments: 13
CrystalGears [2012-07-31 18:35:48 +0000 UTC]
This is really cool. I love their design, and how much thought you have put into them.
What do they use the claws on their fins for? They look like they would be good for clinging to a surface, like the undersea cliffs you mentioned.
Do they have protective plates on their back?
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QuazarShark In reply to CrystalGears [2012-07-31 20:43:11 +0000 UTC]
Thank you very much!
Yeah they're clingy claws, used to wedge the pectoral fins in place. Although you can't see it very well here, they do have arm-like appendages with delicate digits, but to wedge themselves in place on a vertical or near-vertical surface the fins are used because those claws don't bend and don't get tired.
The "plates" on the back are actually the gill covers, but yeah! They do have a much thicker skin on the back than on their bellies, for logical reasons. It's not scutes or shell of any kind though, just toughened skin with a bit more internal structure than the rest.
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CrystalGears In reply to QuazarShark [2012-08-01 00:59:17 +0000 UTC]
I hadn't heard about their arm-like-appendages before. That sounds like it would allow them to build, and make things? What is their culture and society like?
Oh, cool! I love how well you have worked out their design now. I haven't seen their original, but it seems like you know everything about how they work.
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CrystalGears In reply to QuazarShark [2012-08-01 21:38:58 +0000 UTC]
Their robotics look very fluid. Do they mine the metals and ores themselves? They don't look like they are very well adapted for it, but then, I'm sure there are many others they could trade with as well and I don't know how much is exposed in the ocean already. They could probably filter metals out of the water too, if their ocean is like ours and they have a way to separate the minerals out.
In their area of space? Do they have space travel too?
Don't apologize! I love hearing about this kind of thing. Thank you for the links, I am having a lot of fun going through your drawings and what you have written about your characters.
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Dragoonfliy [2012-06-22 18:06:45 +0000 UTC]
Whooo sense making! They definitely look properly aquatic now, I couldn't see them anywhere else!
I'm interested, what is that texture at the underside of their horns? Like... The gaps.
Also I'd love to see them colored. Are they spots much different than the rest of them?
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QuazarShark In reply to Dragoonfliy [2012-06-23 01:17:16 +0000 UTC]
The spots are a darker, duller blue than the surrounding skin of an average lulopolian. There are racial variations where their skin is as dark as or even darker than the spots, but the spots are special chromatic organs and all lulops have them in nearly the same colour. On the colourful youngsters they're also blue, but because the skin is usually a different colour the spots look greyish or brownish.
The openings under the horns are the gill spiracles. Heheh well spotted. Lulops don't breathe through their mouth unless they are exerted (they pant, basically). The spiracles (technically they aren't spiracles because they can't close) also play a part in hearing, as they pick up vibrations in the water very well. The reasons lulops evolved to use the less efficient horn inlets rather than the mouth is some of the same reasons why benthic-sitting shark and rays have: Primitive lulopolians clung to the sides of undersea cliffs in colonies, and relied on camouflage and staying still for defense. The horns provided a means to breathe without any conspicuous movement and also with minimal water disturbance. The gill outlets are on their backs.
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Dragoonfliy In reply to QuazarShark [2012-06-28 03:10:02 +0000 UTC]
Ah yeah. Thanks!
Ahahahaha. *gloats* And cool! I can definitely see the ray-type ancestry. Wonderful props to your new species science. I can still remember what the original lulops looked like (I'm pretty sure) and PHEW have times changed!
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Wolfer-jaf [2012-06-17 13:46:52 +0000 UTC]
*3* I want one to adopt it !! and pet it !!
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QuazarShark In reply to Wolfer-jaf [2012-06-17 14:01:11 +0000 UTC]
Hee hee! Oh wow, don't let them hear you say that. xD
They're really xenophobic and don't trust aliens at all. They also have contempt for them. Their technology is one of the most advanced of all races though, and they sell a lot of their robotics and genetic tech.
For obvious reasons it's very hard for other, land-dwelling races to live in their society.
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Wolfer-jaf In reply to QuazarShark [2012-06-17 15:13:30 +0000 UTC]
:T I still want to pet it !
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