Re: Conspecies Biology

--- Daniel Baisden <DERELICTDAN@...> wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Arthaey Angosii" <arthaey@...>
> To: <CONLANG@...>
> Sent: Sunday, August 08, 2004 5:22 PM
> Subject: Conspecies Biology
>
>
> > I'm beginnig to translate stories from Peter
> Stark's "Last Breath,"
> > which deals very much with human physiology. I
> would like to
> > conculturally translate these stories, thus
> replacing the human
> > characters with Cresaean ones.
> >
> > Thus, I've hit upon a rather sticky problem: as a
> conlanger with
> > nothing more than basic training in biology, how
> should I design
> > Cresaean's bodies? I've known what their outer
> forms look like for a
> > while (cross jaguar, lion, wolf, and greyhound for
> a rough idea), but
> > I've never thought about the details of their
> internal organs, their
> > nervous system, their sight or hearing, or
> anything like that.
> >
> > On the one hand, it's improbable that a species on
> another planet
> > would have similar physiology to us. On the other
> hand, it just may
> > not be worth it for me to try to devise something
> non-Earth-like. Does
> > anyone else feel guilty for their non-humanoid
> species to have brains,
> > nerves, blood vessels, eyes, ears, and the like?
> >
> >
> > --
> > AA
> >
> > Homepage: http://arthaey.mine.nu:8080/wiki/
> >
> My aliens are from a planet crossing both sides of
> the habital zone, with a
> 57 degree axial tilt, have one planet with winter
> and summer both in the
> extremes of climatic condition, and the other
> shielded while close to the
> sun and always facing the sun during the colder one.
> Life there flees hell,
> and seeks paradise. Species born in storm are
> destroyed in calm, and
> extinctions are a regular deal. Thus evolution has
> had its species cooking
> on extra-high,
> and warfare is necessarily the deciding issue. Think
> armor, air
> conditioning, amazing immune systems, and a speed
> and agility defying
> imagination. NOW put the organs into that! I know I
> haven't yet, but I sure
> am not starting with nerves, blood vessels, eyes,
> ears, and the like?
>      I think if you feel guilty or like you might be
> doing "it" wrong, then
> that is a signal from your mind telling you to make
> some changes, and that
> you can do better.
>      Whatever,
> Dan
>
> "It's not what we don't know that hurts us, so much
> as it is the things that
> we think we know that are actually wrong."
>
  I've been designing the anatomy of the Tlilarese for
about 2 years, and I'm still not finished. Although
aliens probably would not work like
life-as-we-know-it, the kinds of problems their
physiology would have to overcome would be much the
same. They might not have nerves, but they would need
a nerveous system. Myself, I believe some kind of
fluid based circulatory system will be universal for
all complex life. Colloidal fluids are extremely slow
for transmitting information, though, so the nerveous
system will have to use some kind of radiation or
electricity(unless your critters never need to move
quickly, which is doubtful given their environment).
The eye has evolved independantly several times over
on earth, so parallel evolution would not be that
unfeasible. Think of functionality: how to transmit a
signal from one part of the body to the other, how to
distribute nutients evenly throughout the body (cells
are inevitable), how to swap genetic material. Once
you answer of few such questions, try experimenting
with your design to see what else they can do. Don't
try and copy vertabrid abilities(jellyfish can turn
themsleves inside out, mammals can't). The Tlilarese
can touch their chins to between their
shoulders(barely), but can hardly twist their
midsection.
  One thing to keep in mind, nearly all of the
visceral organs of earthly life are directly related
to metabolic funtions. Try figuring out what kinds of
energy pathways the Cresaeans use and go from there.
And don't worry about being "too" unnaturalistic in
this case. Life on earth is full of complex
chemistries found only in living things and as of yet
none has figured out how these molecules and reactions
got started. I don't see why silicon or
phosphorosulfur based life should suffer from the
limitations of earth-bound inorganic chemistry. The
Tlilarese derive energy mainly by reacting hydrogen
with flourine and chorine, and they have special
organs for storing halogen salts (a bit like our fat
storage). They also have very neat, very real
"batteries" which were an accident, but I liked the
idea and kept it. Unfortunately, I later found that
the fan lit from "Aliens" has proposed "organic"
batteries as part of Xenomorph physiology. Oh well,
                                               Travis


		
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