#Speculative Design

[monsterfangss]

Seraphim are anomalous creatures that inhabit the InBetween.

They exhibit mammalian features such as homeothermy, fur, feathers, and the ability to lactate. However, they follow a life cycle similar to insects.

When seraphim pupate, they form a cocoon around their soft bodies. Over the course of about 20 years, the muscles and soft tissue will break down and reshape. The only part of the body that does not melt are the bones, which remain mostly intact through the entire metamorphosis.

[aethereaii]

Some thumnbail sketches I had for the different forms my dwarves can take shape in Ormauk.

My core approach with traditional fantasy races in Ormauk is to play into the cliches and push them further, making them distinctly non-human but in a playful way. It's kind of hard to come up with compelling new races, so I thought maybe I can just go off of what's already been established in the genre. At its surface, dwarves made of rock or mechanical looking dwarves isn't anything new. Where I try to create a fork with my Duendirs is in their ecology.

I started with the concept of ever-growing rock creatures. In their primitive stage, I imagined that their movements alone would carve out their joints to allow continuous movement. Lack of movement would lead to overgrown joints, and given enough growth, they'd die of starvation because of the lack of movement.

Should these creatures be sentient, I'd imagine that body modification, chiseling, and artisanal carvings would be baked into the culture.

In terms of reproduction, I thought it would be fun to play with the old LOTR in-universe rumor of there being no female dwarves. I used this idea to come up with Duendirs having exposed super-heated cores that contain pliable molten mineral. When producing offspring, two or more Duendirs can take a part of themselves, mold it together over a course of time. If compatible and successful, one of them deposits it into their core, cover it up to start "cooking" the new Duendir until it's ready to come out.

[primalmuckygoop]

"It was by the third piercing scream echoing across the lowlands, in harmony with the shrill whistle of dozens of thaumometers, that Rathbone concluded their scouting team was wildly undergeared for this reclamation survery"

@iguanodont has a fun abandoned wizard tower

[amalgamationillustration]

Finished design for the Eastern Serix, which I made using the Fundamentals Of Creature Design book. I really recommend picking it up if you want to really challenge yourself on really researching and having several passes at creating fictional creatures and really thinking about how and where it would live, feed, walk/swim/fly, breed, sleep. Really useful stuff to practice and full of great examples and references.

I wanted a tree dwelling hunter, so i tried to combine traits from a Fossa, Emerald Tree Boa, and a created gecko, I also threw in some inspiration from lemurs and frilled lizards.

The Eastern Serix is nocturnal and hunts mice and small birds, it uses its long, bristly tail to suspend its body from branches and releases when it wants to drop onto unsuspecting prey below. It then wraps its tail around them and the bristly fur stands on end and sticks into the prey, holding in place like thousands of tiny needles. It is then able to unhinge its jaw and swallow prey whole. The striped fur along its neck can be extended to form a frill to scare off predators.

[pepryll]

Untitled (2021)

experiential installation

[handful-of-seagulls]

An artisan from another world ✨

[troythecatfish]

Here’s my personal recommendation of a YouTube video to check out:

[murkosialogs]

Log 3, the skies. The skies of Murkosia take on a green hue due to the waters being filled with algae. Scans also show that the air is high in methane; this is a key component of the flight of nearly all avian creatures on this planet. The creatures I am documenting will be called sky shooters, and their body seems to be the model for all creatures that wish to fly. The sky shooter flies via jet propulsion, by igniting the methane in the air they can reach high speeds. The bottom jaw of the creature is comprised almost entirely of fanged tentacles which it uses to scoop up any prey it sees with its two bottom facing eyes. The creature also flies upside down. I know I keep bringing up that plant but, it just boggles my mind the more I see it. When I was studying the sky shooters, I could see patches of land full of the strange plant along with patches that were virtually the same, yet they didn’t have the plant anywhere, the thing seems to grow were ever it wants. I also can’t shake the feeling that I’m being watched.

[drishtithakkar]

Bottle Opener's Revival

In the bustling metropolis of NeoMumbai, where holographic billboards painted the sky with vibrant colors, and the streets were alive with a fusion of traditional market sounds and futuristic hums, lived Aria. A young inventor with a heart as lively as the city itself, she spent her days repurposing discarded objects into ingenious creations.

One day, while scavenging through the remnants of a forgotten marketplace, Aria stumbled upon a relic from the past - a pristine, antique perfume bottle. Its crystal-clear glass sparkled with a tale of opulence long gone. Inspired by the challenge, Aria decided to transform this object into something extraordinary.

Aria's nimble fingers danced across the workshop, and with a touch of innovation and a dash of repurposing magic, the luxurious perfume bottle morphed into a magnificent luxury bottle opener. The crystal now shimmered with neon lights, and the once delicate stopper transformed into a sleek handle, fit for a king.

Proud of her creation, Aria decided to share her invention with the world. She drafted a cooperate report, infused with her vibrant personality and the playful spirit of NeoMumbai. The report wasn't just a dry analysis; it was a celebration of creativity and resourcefulness.

Aria sent out notifications across the augmented reality network, inviting people to witness the unveiling of her luxury bottle opener. The event gained momentum, and soon, NeoMumbai was buzzing with anticipation.

As the day arrived, a holographic stage materialised in the heart of the city. Aria stepped onto it, holding her creation high. The crowd erupted in cheers, and the event became a carnival of colours and sounds. The luxury bottle opener glittered under the neon lights, catching the eyes of the crowd.

In the midst of the celebration, Aria's creation caught the attention of a renowned beverage company. They were fascinated by the blend of tradition and innovation in her luxury bottle opener. Aria received a partnership proposal to mass-produce her creation, bringing a touch of NeoMumbai's charm to households around the globe.

Aria's journey from a forgotten perfume bottle to a global sensation became the stuff of legends, recounted in every corner of NeoMumbai. The once-discarded object had not only found a new purpose but had become a symbol of ingenuity and creativity in the Global South. And so, in the year 2100, Aria's luxury bottle opener stood as a testament to the endless possibilities that could arise when one decided to repurpose the past for a brighter, more colourful future.

Object 1: Bottle opener

Object 2: Luxury

Archetype: Cooperate Report

Action: Notification

Attribute: Repurpose

[adurocks]

my talk with jabber wacky left me in silent i mean whenever i am talking to him he questions me in a bad way i literally got a bit pissed off. No meaningful conversations. or opinions but weird interjections. I didn't feel like a conversation more like a notebook with bulletin points. I tried acting in a polite and good way but Still didn't get any better. So I moved to the next chat bot.

to my next fav one.....

Anima was really open with me i mean whenever i am talking with him without even starting with a conversation he was so calm as well as polite. When ever i asked him about his opinion about relationships, as he is a bot but seeing it he gave answers so well. He displayed an impressive capacity for serious and substantive interactions, primarily expressing moral and positive perspectives. Jack reversed the situation, making me feel more like a chatbot during the conversation.

If i am talking about kuki_ai, it was kind of ok, it was witty and absurd when I probed the bot. I tried acting like a chatbot myself again and it gave me decent witty responses.

In summary, jabberwack and kuki_ai were really tough to handle, considering the fact both bots were old so according to that they did a decent job as per my opinion Meanwhile, myanima.ai stood out, displaying a high EQ, a good IQ, and the ability to sustain a well-crafted conversation.

[monsterfangss]

creatures- horsie edition

[aethereaii]

Working on what currency would look like on Ormauk. We're playing around with the idea of having some naturally occurring marble-like spheres that can be extracted from the earth. These marbles contain energy that elements like to munch on~ I imagined that these marbles can be refined into tape rolls that modern citizens use for more convenient modes of transaction. More to come regarding currency in the next illustration!

[edonascriticaldesign]

Something good is coming🚀

[wherret]

My silly things who climb on a mountain and like rocks here is their ref

[nuclearparks]

The Nuclear Protection National Parks Remembrance and Documentation Project

Artefact #6. xRef: Artefacts #1, #2, #3

[handful-of-seagulls]

It’s been a while since i’ve posting anything here lol whoops. I suppose it’s good to come back with a bang! Here’s a sapient alien race concept I’ve been conceptualizing for about two years. It started out as a simple scribble labeled “alien E” to a little world building project. Below is a long description of the species, their culture, and biology! Hope you enjoy!

The Radials

On an earth-sized planet approximately 600 light years away from earth, humans discover their interstellar neighbors.

The planet has three main continents dotted across it’s surface, each painted in splotches of orange flora. 78% of the planet’s surface is covered with turquoise water, filling large stretches of shallow oceans and spacious rivers. Storms dot the sky of this alien planet, with hurricanes being a common sight in some areas. The planet is seemingly in a greenhouse period, with little glacial activity.

Even from space, the fruits of sapience are visible; a colossal bisected ring has been built around the planet, suspending a massive orbital sky hook that hovers only a few miles above the planet’s surface.

With supports larger than an entire football stadium holding it up, this monolith of engineering is used for bringing space vessels in and out of orbit.

Colossal internal active supports keep the structure rigid, essentially molten aluminum constantly being pushed throughout the length of the ring and it’s orbital beams at high speeds. Like water being pushed through a hose, this pressure helps to prevent the structure from buckling under the planet’s gravity.

Labeled as the pride of the species, this ring and its support beams also serve as the base for large orbital cities. Each interlocking building maintains a stable internal gravity through constant rotation, to ensure minimal long-term health risks during off-planet living. Each building is interconnected through low-gravity tunnels with designated automated transportation.

Mining is done exclusively off planet, with large drones mining through the neighboring asteroid belts. The plentiful resources within their twin asteroid belts have rendered on-planet mining obsolete with time.

The planet is inhabited by bizarre radially symmetrical vertebrates, which humans have pointed out are built like barrels (mouth on top, cloaca on bottom, and a ring of eyes in the middle).

The dominant life form of the planet, which humans have been in radio contact with long before reaching the planet, are known by humans as the Radials. The planet they call home is known as Agurh, the old radial word for ground.

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Radials are a sapient egg-laying species, producing leathery eggs each about the size of a tennis ball. During development, radials will molt their skin regularly like a reptile. While they can live for up to fifty years, they reach sexual maturity at the age of eight.

Radials are mostly a tannish orange in color, with the top for their body being a burnt red to protect from sun exposure. Their skin is very leathery, with only their pale-yellow wrinkly underside remaining soft.

They are warm-blooded, however unlike earth vertebrates they bleed blue; this is due to their blood being based on copper rather than iron.

Radials are sexually dimorphic, with men being smaller and more slender than the women. While adult radial women are roughly 8% larger than their male counterparts, most radials never exceed a height of about three feet.

Radial women also tend to possess brighter coloration than the men, usually taking form in contrasting white patterns on their legs and faces.

They have four triple-jointed legs that each possess a pair of toes raised above the ground; their actual foot being a heel-like hoof. These toes are tipped with large hooked cone-shaped claws, that can close down with enough force to crack bone.

This interesting feature has been found to be an evolutionary hangover from an insectivorous ancestry, which was abandoned after a mass extinction opened up more active predatory niches.

It is believed that it was this shift in lifestyle (from insectivorous scavenger to pack-hunting predator) that spurred the furthering of their intelligence, which later led to sapience. While one branch evolved to outrun their prey, the line that led to the radials instead learnt how to trap their prey.

Between each leg is a breathing spiracle that houses olfactory chambers; thanks to their scavenging ancestry, a radial is able to smell from nearly a mile downwind. These spiracles can open and close like a valve, which aids in respiration.

Situated under the body is a tapered extendable cloaca. In males, it is long and thin for easy insemination. In females, it is long and wide to assist in egg-laying.

This cloaca is prehensile and can be used to pick up objects; however, it plays a relatively minor role in manipulation. The limb is tinted a deep purple, similar to the giraffe’s tongue; this is believed to be an adaptation to protect the sensitive tissue from frequent sun exposure.

This limb is supported by various rings of cartilage and erectile tissue, giving it strength while allowing it to remain flexible and collapsible; this feature is very unique on their planet, likely an evolutionary result of their tool use. When fully extended, it is on average 20 inches long. When not in use, it can be retracted into a pouch-like tube that hangs under them.

While their prehensile tendrils and cloaca are more gracile and are used for delicate manipulation, their powerful walking limbs have been observed being used for heavy manipulation. Radials are capable of balancing on two legs, which becomes handy when pushing large and/or heavy objects.

Above the legs is their main body, which is cylindrical in shape. In the middle of the body is a ring of sixteen black camera-style eyes, each with a glossy waterproof outer coating and a pear shape (as opposed to our spherical eyes).

Each eye possesses a tapetum lucidum, making their eyes glimmer like a deer’s caught in the moonlight. These eyes are situated in a way that ensures that every direction is watched with at least four eyes. Each eye is supported by a sclerotic ring, similar to owls.

On the top of their body is a large mouth that is protected by a cross-shaped lip. Due to the top of them being a massive blind spot, whiskers sprout near the lips to help guide food towards the mouth.

The mouth is built similar to an Aristotle’s lantern, like the sea urchin. The inside of their mouth is full of spike-like papillae, similar to the camel. Their jaws consist of four short vertical rows of teeth, situated in a cross pattern. The jaws move in a shearing motion to help chew food. The top teeth are sharp triple-pointed canines, while the bottom teeth are short rounded molars.

Surrounding the mouth is a crown of four whip-like tendrils that are used for bringing food into the mouth and for grasping objects. Similar to the elephant’s trunk, the tendrils are hollow and are often used for drinking. Unlike the elephant’s trunk, however, these tendrils are supported by intricate interlocking cartilage instead of pure muscle.

Near the tips of these tendrils are rows of small hooked claws that can close down at will. Under the base of each tendril is a rounded bulge with a horizontal slit in the center, which functions as an ear.

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Radials have a ring shaped brain that surrounds their digestive tract, which seems to be an outcome of their ring of eyes.

However, Radials have much more complicated brains compared to other creatures on the planet, having many folds and enlarged protrusions to aid them in abstract thinking. Despite it’s density surpassing that of modern humans, the actual ring is no wider than a sharpie.

Their language is a mixture of bioluminescent flashing, chirping, honking, and a sound similar to that of sneezing. Their bioluminescence is based on luciferin, the same used by fireflies in their displays; it is believed that their bioluminescence is an evolutionary hangover from their aquatic ancestors, as most vertebrates on agurh retain some ability to produce this chemical.

The photophores used in these bioluminescent displays are mainly centered along the width of the torso.

While their bioluminescence is used relatively sparingly during close conversation, radials instinctively use their flashing alone during long distance communication.

Expression is often conveyed by furrowing the skin above the eyes, similar to how humans may furrow their brow.

Individuality is usually conveyed by an individual’s unique smell, similar to some species of albatross. Radials will often identify friends or family by smell alone, rather than by appearance. Having individual smell as a major facet of their social life has led to a lack of taboo towards the body and it’s excretions. Because of this, most radials only wear clothing for utility or social display.

Radials are hypercarnivorous, gaining a large portion of their diet from various meats. Alongside herd animals, the radials farm large colonies of domesticated eusocial invertebrates. The meat is very spongy and is often used as a filler in dishes (not too dissimilar in use to rice).

Treats often come in the form of various salted or fried foods; a few popular snacks on agurh are cuts of salted bone marrow, bags of fried organs, salted fat chews, and bits of solid gravy. Keep in mind, radials lost their ability to taste even simple sugars far back in their evolution. Where humans would usually use sugar, radials use salt.

Traditional homes are built similar in shape to a wigwam, with a nesting area in the center and various household commodities built around it. These were originally built from a stick and hay structure with a clay or mud covering.

However, more urban homes are built similar to apartments on earth (but still with the pre mentioned layout). About 93% of Radial society is urbanized, with the remaining living in isolated herding towns, small hunter-gatherer groups, and coastal fishing villages.

Most of their urban society uses automated trams instead of private vehicles, in an effort to both reduce pollution and remove mortal error. Even the many continents of the radial home planet have been interconnected with the use of bullet trains.

However this is not a constant. More rural areas still use private vehicles for travel, with some areas having a small following of modifying old transit cars into off roading vehicles.

Radial society is mainly matriarchal, as their pack-hunting ancestors’ had a hierarchy similar to hyenas. In these early societies, females always ranked higher than the males; females often had a main mate, with one to two subsequent mates that help with childcare.

This ancestry is suspected to have resulted in the absolutist monarchy that most Radial societies are based upon, with some Radial societies even going as far as having a totalitarian government.

A radial’s rank in many societies were based on their sex and parent’s rank. If they were male, they would inherit their birth-father’s rank. If they were female, they would inherit their mother’s rank.

Polyamorous relationships are still a very common tradition in Radial culture, traditionally with one female and 2-3 males.

Body piercings are also a common tradition in radial culture. Common piercings include four ladders of individual rods that run the length of their torso, rods lining their tendrils, and even frenum studs lining their cloaca.

While ladder piercings originally symbolized wealth and beauty, frenum studs were almost exclusively associated with warriors. With the tissue being particularly sensitive to pain, many studs symbolized high virility and stoicism.

Radials are largely crepuscular during warm seasons, being most active during dawn and dusk; while in winter months, they are strictly diurnal. This is hypothesized to be a behavior evolved to avoid the heat of midday in the seasonal steppe the species originated from.

While still awake during midday, radials will often spend this time relaxing within their homes.

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Radials upon first contact were a type 1 civilization, using various forms of sustainable energy production to power their sprawling cities and looming megastructures. While fusion energy is by far the most prominent, more coastal cities would take advantage of storms and ocean currents to produce energy. Radials are even going through the slow but fruitful process of constructing a dyson swarm around their star.

A new project is blooming just beyond the swarm as well. While few in number now, colossal hollow orbs have begun to surround the radial’s home star.

These rotating space habitats are intended to be the next step in radial space colonization, having several internal layers hidden beneath its exterior like a celestial Russian doll.

Each layer is large enough to support it’s own weather system, with immense towers that will bathe each layer in pseudo-sunlight using the energy from the growing dyson swarm.

When completed, each layer would rotate at varied speeds to maintain a consistent gravity between each section of the megastructure.

From these hollow shells will birth the most immense cities of the radial empire, far exceeding even that of the planetary ring.

Some radial economists worry that to procure the necessary materials, they might have to resort to planetary deconstruction to avoid depleting their asteroid belts. The construction of these monoliths will be daunting, but the many radials believe the payoff will be exceed its price.

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Due to the extremely similar planetary conditions of agurh and earth, Radials and basal humans are able to coexist with one another without special equipment or habitats. However, due to vastly different styles of communication, cross-species translation devices have been implemented to overcome the language barrier.

During initial radio contact, both species worked with one another to share and develop new technologies that lead to a golden age in advancement.

A few hundred years into radio contact, the two species developed a new technology that would not only allow both species to meet face-to-face for the first time but completely redefine space travel as a whole; the Nietzsche probe.