#zebesian

[thecongressman1]

Samus Aran surrounded in the depths of Zebes

[sepublic]

Super Metroid’s internal data refers to the Zebesians as Batta, which according to Wikitroid is based on the Japanese word for locusts.

I hc the Zebesians as a marauding, nomadic race. They’re the original Space Pirates and fit the term the most out of the other coalition species. Between their eugenicist and colonial beliefs, the reference to locusts makes me imagine them as a species that invades a planet to use as their homeworld, uses up all of its resources without concern for sustainability, and then moves to the next planet once it’s all burned down. And Zebes is just the latest planet.

The internal data thus makes me tempted to use Batta as the true name of the Zebesians, or the basis for one; Sakamoto confirmed they’re not actual from Zebes, taking the name the same way colonizers like Americans do. But it makes you wonder what they called themselves beforehand, plus I can’t see the Federation and especially not Samus recognizing this new name.

After all, the Zebesians’ conquest of Zebes is very recent within their species’ history; Even if most, if not all of them, moved to Zebes after Mother Brain welcomed them in, there must’ve been some who struggled to adjust.

So, Batta (or something similar) it is. I also want to consider the names of the other Pirate species we see as well; I like to call the Aether Pirates the Shawk, in reference to how they’re called Shock Beasts in the original concept art for Metroid Prime 1.5, where they were chimeras of Space Pirate DNA and some other creatures.

Still, that leaves the Tallon IV and Beyond pirates… And I bet you’re also thinking of the Bermuda pirates but tbh, a part of me speculates/sees them as just the same aforementioned Aether pirates? I want to get more into that, some other time.

[robug-lyon]

A Space Pirate Zebesian, broken free from the usual rigors of what his kind normally were. Being one of the last remaining of his kind (presumably anyway) he set onto his own journey to carve out his own existence in this galaxy.

[azazelleviathan]

269 followers that so awesome its like i was destined to rule this place, im liek god if you think about it

[alligator-dreaming]

11-15-2023

Had a dream about an alternate universe Star Wars in which there was no Chosen One prophecy. Anakin was a padawan being trained at an artifact temple on Tatooine by my Mom, the great jedi master. Anakin stumbled upon a great power when Zebesians attacked and destroyed the temple, and Anakin caused a stir by daring to question if the Zebesians were always irredeemably evil

[loreleywrites]

OK I keep losing my mind because the biggest reveal in the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond trailer wasn't the return of Sylux, it was the return of an even deeper cut. Look at this shot from the trailer:

At first glance, this is just Sylux flanked by two metroids. Pretty normal for a Metroid game villain! It's even supported by the secret ending to Metroid Prime: Federation Force, which shows Sylux walking up to a Metroid in a tube.

Except these aren't Metroids.

Metroids have three nuclei, but these things next to Sylux? They only have one each. "Well maybe they're new kinds of metroids," you might say. But you don't need to say that. Because Metroid already has an alien that looks like a single-nucleus metroid.

Meet the mochtroid:

In Super Metroid, the Zebesian Space Pirates recover the Baby Metroid and do all kinds of experiments on it. One of those experiments is a cloning program to propegate a new army of metroids. Their first attempts were failures, producing organisms far weaker than the engineered bioweapons they were cloned from. These failed experiments were dubbed "mochtroids" and can be found in Maridia. They can still drain energy, but are easy to dislodge and even easier to kill. This is their only canon appearance.

Why does Sylux have mochtroids and not metroids? What is Sylux planning with them? Is there a real metroid breeding program it's running somewhere?

There's a lot of questions, but Sylux is a character with so little existing lore that it's impossible to say right now beyond, "It's targeting its hate at the Galactic Federation generally and Samus Aran specifically," which is all we really know about the character anyway.

I, for one, have been a huge Sylux fan since its debut in Metroid Prime Hunters. Excited to see what all this is about.

[nerdy-the-artist]

Space Pirate Design Ranking

The Metroid series has a boatload of different designs, completely changing between every game except the 2D iterations. Some think it’s simple design inconsistency, others think that they’re different genetic manipulations of the same species, while others (including myself) are of the opinion that the Space Pirates are a collective made up of various species. Today, I’ll be ranking these designs based on what they convey and, simply, what I think is cool and aesthetically pleasing. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll only be ranking the standard Space Pirate variant of each game, the “core enemy type” if you will. And yes, Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is here, though its place in the ranking is subject to change as we get more closer looks.

7. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

Some people may consider this a sin to put so low on the list but, to me, this really just doesn’t fit the whole vibe of the Space Pirates, especially in the Prime series. In the Metroid Prime saga, the Space Pirates are an authoritarian empire who recklessly abuse technological advancement for the sake of domination. This just… doesn’t say that. It’s a good design, don’t get me wrong, but this really looks like some weird skeleton knight. I could see this crawling out of some crypt to seek vengeance, not descending from a space ship to plunder. For that reason, I gotta put this guy in last place.

6th place: Metroid Prime Federation Force

For many of the problems Metroid Prime 2’s design has, I think Federation Force remedies… and then makes the opposite mistakes. Federation Force’s Space Pirate design is, canonically, around the same height as Metroid Prime’s Omega Pirate. Why make mechs for your game if you’re just gonna scale the enemies up anyway is anyone’s guess. With that in mind, I kinda like this as a heavy unit for the Space Pirates, but the center of this design just is a bit hard to look at. I love the limbs and the inclusion of the iconic Prime Pirate energy blade. There’s a mix of fleshy joints and tough, metal plating that I enjoy, I actually like the bright red eyes as well, especially for a heavy unit. But the carapace around it just feels… it’s kinda hard to look at. That mouth, as well, is just a bit too buggy and lacks expressiveness. Really, that’s my edict on this thing. Good extremities, but lacks expression and is generally tough to look at. Still, I imagine someone could retool/retexture this thing to be a real banger of a design.

5th place: Metroid Other M

From here on, these designs are ones I truly like as Space Pirates. Metroid Other M’s Space Pirate design was a tough one to find a good image of. This was about the best one I could find in a cursory search. As far as official designs go, I think this is the best translation of the iconic Zebesian Space Pirate to 3D we’ve ever gotten. There was a small effort made in Prime 2 to bring the claws back, but here there are on full display and they look great. The whole design is, honestly, fantastic. You can see the smooth bands around the limbs and torso, downward pointed jaw, and the big, smooth, blank eyes of the old sprite. The spines on the back and head really add some personal flare to these guys as well, and the whole design has a delightfully cheesy color scheme that I simply adore. I think the series has designs that evoke certain feelings and themes better, but this is certainly a fun looking guy.

4th place: Metroid Prime 3 Corruption

Unlike every other type but the Zebesians, the Space Pirates of Corruption have a distinct name based on the Homeworld we explore, Urtraghians. There is a distinctly pseudo organic bend to these guys, with the textures on the armor plating feeling almost Xenomorphic. However, where I think this design stands out is, of course, the head. The long, pointed teeth clearly visible under the rows of eyes really makes this eel-like head intimidating. You can really imagine the Urtraghians descending from their ships in a city, gunning down innocents and plundering whatever they choose. These animalistic terrors will smell where you’re hiding and drag you out kicking and screaming. It really fits the Space Pirates’ role in the story. From day one, they really have just been a bogeyman for the Federation. We rarely actually see them doing… ya know… pirating. The rampant technological obsession was a concept introduced by the Prime trilogy. As a design for the Bogeyman of the Galaxy, I think the Urtraghians work great.

3. Metroid Prime 4 Beyond

Haha, 3 is for 4 and 4 is for 3. This will be subject to change and many people might not rank them until we get clearer images, but uh… I’m doin it. Beyond’s pirates have a very buggy design, but in a way that’s parallel, not identical, to the Zebesian designs from the 2d games. Their mouth is split into mandibles, they have a hard carapace, and their movements can be jittery and unsettling. The large size of them compared to the Federation personnel seen in the trailer really evokes power and control. Their armor has outward pointed edges and defined pectorals. These are conquerors, proud, undefeatable warriors. The sparseness of it also evokes a sense of confidence, as if they don’t need a full covering when their hardened shell is so superior to weak flesh. It’s almost ornamental in a way. (Though someone should remind them they lost in every previous fight against Samus). Their mandibular maws, hunched backs, double thumbed hands, and digitigrade stance (standing on their toes with their heels off the ground) also evokes a certain other core enemy type in a sci fi shooter.

I’m going to leave it here for now as I have some other stuff to get to at the moment and I Forgor the image limit on Tumblr posts. I’ll get the ranking for the final (first?) two designs by the end of today. Then, I might make a post about what roles I’d fit these different species into for my own storytelling purposes.

[winged-void]

Samus shocks Zebesian waitress by ordering in perfect plasma beam

[zerojanitor]

shoutout to metroid for inventing the word zebesian. like a zebra lesbian

[spinningbuster98]

Metroid Other M Part 3: Speedrunners' bane

And Sector 1 is still going!

Yeah Other M is a longer game than the other 2D entries, about 6 hours or so, which is about the length of a Prime game (though about half of those hours is made up of cutscenes), which also means that you’re gonna be spending much more time in these Sectors than you would in Fusion, but even by those standards your first visit to Sector 1 really drags, especially when it has you fight against the same tree-like miniboss twice

Speaking of Sectors: yeah Other M is rather shameless in just copying Fusion’s homework at every chance it gets, right down to taking place on a Space Station made up of Sectors which imitate the environments of other planets. Boy does this game have little imagination

Now let’s be fair: 2D Metroid has always been a little bit weak in terms of environments ever since Fusion itself, whose Sectors were mostly rather elementary: jungle, fire, ice, dark, water and SR388. The Primes are just a heck of a lot more creative and unique in their art direction (though Prime 1 was also pretty by the numbers), but even by those standards Other M doesn’t even try: once again jungle land, once again fire land and once again snow land. They may not be exactly the same as in Fusion but they look very bland and boring

Graphically speaking Other M is technically one of the best Wii games when it comes to the CG cutscenes (which look incredible even to this day) and the 3D models whose textures look really good for the console. The environments however look very drab, lacking in color and just overall feel lifeless and uninspired, which isn’t helped at all by the fact that the last game to come out was Prime 3, 3 years earlier and on the same console.

The moment you reach the facility is when the game starts doing something cool only to totally shit on itself: it’s actually pretty eerie going in! The music is creepy, the place is a mess and there are broken robots everywhere. It actually builds up a nice sense of creepiness and anticipation!

...and then the game has you slow to a goddamn crawl.

Other M has plenty of moments where Samus will just refuse to run and just walk slowly in order to increase “le tenshiòn!”. I’m fine with them when they’re used sparingly, they can be effective in short bursts, but here the game has you go through half of this place while walking at a snail’s pace, twice in a row with minutes long cutscenes in between. This fucking draaaaags and nukes the pacing! On repeated playthroughs it effectively becomes the worst part of the game!

On the topic of the story, as much as this game is bootleg Fusion I will concede that the idea of centering a good amount of the plot on finding the one survivor of this mess in order to get answers as to what happened here is a good one, as it helps keep up the mystery of what happened in this place. That was originally the impetus of Fusion as well, except that the mystery of what happened on the BSL gets solved not even 5 minutes in and there end up being no survivors left. I’m not saying that Othem M will do a good job with these plotpoints, just that it was a good call to focus on them

Another thing I will concede is the fact that the story points out the fact that a space station housing Zebesians is all kinds of wrong. If you remember I criticized Fusion for featuring Zebesians and even Ridley on the BSL while having Samus not react in any way to them, which is stupid given that her finding the hidden Metroid lab is framed as the moment she finally realized that something was wrong with the place...even though she should’ve realized this as early as Sector 1, so I’m glad that Other M at least acknowledges that having these creatures on board is a big red flag as to the activities that were going on inside the BOTTLE ship

...at the same though I have to ask: why didin’t the game point this stuff out earlier? We just fought a bunch of Kihunters earlier. According to the manual for Super Metroid these guys are actual sentient creatures that are allies of the Space Pirates, having helped them to reconstruct their forces on Zebes

Yet this game seems to treat them as any regular old monsters. Why? Did the story forget about this detail? Is this info being retconned? Was it something that the American manual made up?

The game has this nasty habit of pulling you into first person mode during specific times and having you look for “something” to point the wiimote at. It’s supposed to feel “investigative” but you can genuinely get stuck because you often don’t know what you’re looking for and the details are often tiny and barely visible, like spotting a sploch of green liquid in the middle of a mostly green field, not to mention the reticule is really finicky on whether or not it will appear when you pass the pointer over the intended objective

This is also when we get to fight our “Mystery Creature”. It sucks. It’s a game of wackamole basically until Anthony decides to save your ass because God forbid Adam authorize Samus to use her more powerful abilities to save herself or Samus herself think about saving her own skin even if it mean making senpai upset...

...but on that matter...

[beevean]

Other M by Powerhouse:

Samus: After my parents were murdered I learned just what a shithole the universe could be. I enrolled in the army to make the bastards who killed my parents pay, but I was surrounded by men who wouldn't take me seriously because I'm a woman. Worst of all was Adam Malkovich...what a worthless pile of semen

Adam, holding a bottle of whiskey: Hic! Look Sammy... I dunno the next thing 'bout these kinds of operations, see? I kinda just climbed the ladder by having a few good friends. So jus' do what you want an' leave me alone, 'k luv? *chugs bottle

Anthony, while Samus is having a PTSD attack: Man princess! You really are useless as fuck! So what if you got to see your parents killer in the flesh again? You grow and you get stronger. I had to do the same after suffering so much prejudice for my skin color!

Madeline: We did this, we did ALL of this...for GOD! The Metroids are the tool given to us by Him to purge the galaxy from sinners!!

MB: *Activates Redditor mode

Ridley: After careful reconsideration of my previous life and considering the miraculous second chance I've been give, I have decided to live for myself and to stop attempting to snuff out Samus' life. *goes on another planet with the other Zebesians to set up shop but not before murdering the entire population

I appreciate the effort, but Powerhouse Other M already exists:

[codylabs]

not sure if you've already described it somewhere (I discovered you very recently) but I seem to notice a chozo conlang in one of your latest posts. as a conlang enthusiast, I'd absolutely love to hear more about it! if you feel like sharing, of course

(awesome work on the comic btw, the little that i've seen so far is amazing!)

One hundred percent of the credit for that goes to @chozodian! He made an entire conlang for Zebesian Chozo, including an alphabet in both digital and handwritten forms, and I was honored enough to get his help for that page of the comic. (I've got a small brown rock instead of the part of my brain in charge of learning new languages, so I wouldn't dream of doing something as grand as this on my own!)

Chozodian isn't terribly active on his Tumblr and I don't know where else he is, but you can shoot him a message there!

-> https://www.tumblr.com/chozodian <-

[sepublic]

Space Pirate Ideology

In regards to my personal Metroid fanon (which is basically what it is, at this point) I want to hearken back to a previous post about how essentially, the Galactic Federation has organized itself, (un)consciously, into a caste system where each sapient species fulfills a role; Not necessarily a unique role, but this doesn't make it much better either.

Humans are the Federation's infantry; They're also called the Federation's Attack Dogs for this very reason. Humans, or 'Earthians' (Ur-THEE-enz) as they're called in this time period, are decently adaptive, and they breed relatively quickly. Not only that, but they're populous; Federation presence on other worlds leads to Earthian soldiers having families there, which then creates more Earthians for the Federation to pull from, etc. It's a positive feedback loop.

This makes Earthians more pragmatic to have as an all-encompassing infantry; Other species fulfill the roles of pilots, while Earthians are expected to fight in-person, on the ground, and so forth. But some species ARE better at warfare than Earthians; However, they're not as intertwined with Federation society, nor as endless.

In these cases, the Federation will sometimes hire these species to do the fighting for them in local areas, while retaining Earthians as the bulk and face of their armies. Some of these 'combat' species found themselves resenting the Federation for this reason; They saw that the Federation would prefer to sacrifice other non-Federation species than their own, and make them do the dirty work. Indeed, economic pressure was one way for the Federation to force other species into fighting proxy wars for them.

These examples comprise parts of the Space Pirate coalition; Such as the, for lack of an actual name, Tallon IV or Aether pirates. The Aether pirates especially are an interesting case, in that they don't have actual fingers; Their commando counterparts seem to, but I speculate this is the result of cybernetics, the pirates' Project Metamorphosis. Despite these shortcomings, the Aether pirates make up for it in their combat ability; They're faster and much more durable than Earthians, and they have shredding claws to aid them.

They may or may not be able to naturally shoot lasers from their right-claws; Or this could be a cybernetic implant to grant them ranged abilities. It's worth noting the Aether pirates were called Shock Beast in concept art, and while I presume this is a play on the term Shock Trooper, unrelated to electricity... Who knows, maybe the Aether pirates produce potent bioelectricity, otherwise contained by their carapace, that is funneled through their claws into natural firepower, or harnessed to fuel implanted weapons.

(Before we bring up the obvious weak points; My HC is that this is an additional layer of armor over their heart, so it's actually not a weak point. This could be the result of genetic modification, technology, or a natural evolution, idk.)

Lacking dexterous fingers, the Aether pirates didn't have much if any technology when they were discovered by the Federation; But they didn't need to operate technology all that much, because the Federation saw their use as better suited to combat than engineering. Wowed by advanced technology, the Aether pirates were promised it by the Federation’s dexterous, manufacturing fingers in exchange for combat service. The Aether pirates fought for the Federation, and at some point realized their arrangement was kinda bullshit because of how many of their own they had to sacrifice, while the Feds only lost property they could easily replace.

By contrast, the Tallon IV pirates have actual fingers and hands, which means they're among the most naturally advanced of the Space Pirate species, which made them better at performing science and the like. They found employment by the Federation for more sophisticated warfare than the Aether pirates, being employed in a wider variety of roles and not just ground combat. But they too found contempt for their 'masters'.

The pirates of Urtraghus, or the "Urtraghue" as I like to call them, are an interesting exception. The pirate logs from Corruption make me believe they're written by the Aether pirates, since they seem to regard Dark Samus with recognition. Likewise, the deleted log Warband (which I'm still pulling from for inspiration) refers to "The inhabitants of Urtraghus, once a minor, quarrelsome band" which makes it sound as if it's written by a different species.

This fuels the fanon I've come up with; The Urtraghue are naturally limbless eels, capable of breathing air and water. Native to the planet of Urtraghus, they had no technology, and were easily colonized by the Federation. The Federation 'enlightened' the Urtraghue by granting them cybernetic frames to act as limbs for them, but the production of these cybernetics was controlled strictly by the Federation as they forced the Urtraghue to help them extract the planet's resources. The acid rain might be a result of pollution, or a natural feature that further necessitated the exploitation of natives adapted to it.

Still, the Urtraghue figured out how to create and maintain cybernetics, as a way of gathering independence. At some point, they found liberation; Perhaps the Federation got all it wanted and left, or the Urtraghue staged a successful revolt, and/or they got help from the Space Pirates.

But that last option happened regardless; It was decided by Kraid that the Space Pirates needed a proper, physical homeworld to fall back on. This would act as a 'capital' that would be protected by a full blockade, to dissuade Federation assault. Urtraghus was targeted for the reasons mentioned above; The natives harbored resentment for the Federation, and yet despite their natural shortcomings, proved capable of overcoming their oppressors.

But they were also desperate to maintain independence, needed resources, and were not ready for another invasion. So, they turned to the Space Pirates, a deal with the devil; Kraid masterminded diplomatic negotiations, promising the Space Pirates' full support. Because so much of their infrastructure was already devoted to just base cybernetics for every citizen, it meant Urtraghus did not have the resources to spare for larger weaponry or a fleet.

The Urtraghue accepted Space Pirate membership; And in the end, they really only traded one colonizer for another. The Space Pirates took advantage of their homeworld, helping build much infrastructure and establishing a fleet around the planet, but some questioned if they were just being made into slaves of another force.

Indeed, they found little respect by their 'brethen' species, who saw them as weak and questioned the Urtaghue's place on the battlefield alongside them; Their naturally-disabled states made them more liable to a subservient caste. They found use in aquatic environments, and possibly hazardous ones due to the aforementioned acid rain; This would assign them as clean-up crew in often dangerous working conditions.

Urtraghue dissenters might've found some relief when rumors spread of the Space Pirates moving their capital to Zebes, in response to Mother Brain's new leadership; But when the Hunter destroyed her, Ridley ordered the Space Pirates to lay low, recover, and eventually reband at Urtraghus. Attempts to revolt during this time period proved a failure, and eventually high command convened at Urtraghus for the next step.

This was the perfect time to strike for Dark Samus, who crashed the Leviathan seed into Urtraghus. With this display of power towards high command and a majority of the Space Pirate forces, Dark Samus seized control of the coalition. The Urtraghue realized their planet had become out of the hands, and was now being poisoned beyond recognition! But the rest had been brainwashed by and addicted to the power of Phazon, and became loyal to Dark Samus. In the end, the Phazon Crisis ended with the Federation once more seizing the planet, all over again...

The Bermuda pirates are an unusual case for me because… They might just be the Aether pirates, based on the visual similarities? Especially if you look at the in-game model and the upper jaw they have instead of a proboscis. Their proportions are different because of the chibi art style, and we know they’re not naturally huge; The Bion amplification beam made them bigger, so any other differences from the Aether pirates might just be mutations. I do assume the Phazon-mutated Elite Pirates in Prime to be mutations of the Tallon IV species, for the same reasons. Of course these, ones have hands when the Aether ones don’t, and that’s a crucial part of my lore for them; But then again Aether commandos also have hands? Maybe some Aether pirates naturally have hands, there could be a caste/sexual dimorphism situation going on, or biological augmentation.

I can't say much about the Beyond pirates right now; But currently I'm HC'ing them as the architects of the Space Pirate fleet we see in Corruption. I say this because a Space Pirate destroyer from that game is also seen in Beyond; And as I've said, the Urtraghue had little infrastructure since they were too focused on augmenting themselves to be on the same level as their peers. So the vessels they used in Corruption are technically 'on loan' from the Beyond pirates. They’re of a different aesthetic than Zebesian craft, which is what makes me believe they’re from different makers.

I know Andrew Jones intended for the thin Flying/Aqua Pirates in Prime to be the same species as the standard Space Pirates from that same game... But tbh, they look so different that I always assumed and HC'ed them as a separate race; Likewise, I assumed the Aerotroopers in Echoes to be the same species but with an upgraded exo-suit, with subsequent variations in Corruption and Federation Force clearly being the dominant Space Pirates of their respective games, but with a jetpack added on.

So these Flying Pirates weren't used by the Federation, not successfully; The Federation used other 'employee' species to fight them on their homeworld of Stasz V, but the the Flying Pirates eventually won out. The conflict still left a bad taste in their proboscis however, and this and victory made many susceptible to Space Pirate claims of biological superiority, which they saw themselves as being a part of.

The so-called Zebesians are a case in that they were never exploited/invaded by the Federation to begin with; Sakamoto explains their name is a misnomer, akin to how Americans call themselves that despite being colonizers. Which, based; But also, it adds to my interpretation of the Zebesians as a nomadic, marauding race who was already predisposed to the idea that they were naturally superior to other species, and deserved to rule.

Even before the Space Pirates, they'd taken over other races. So when they saw the Federation, they saw weaklings having to hide behind Earthian and other variety of attack dogs. I am tying this into the Zebesians' characterization and blatant eugenics in the Zero Mission manga. They're arguably the least sympathetic of the Space Pirate species, being natural aggressors.

Not entirely sure on what backstory the Kihunters play; They're probably just literal attack animals, but I like to HC them as sapient. There is a King Kihunter, so it could be an oppressive caste system where the Kings have opted to loan out their own people to the Space Pirates in return for power; Essentially a micro-reflection of the Federation's flaws. Regular Kihunters might buy into the supremacist beliefs, nurtured by Kraid to encourage loyalty; In the end, there IS a place for all other species within the Space Pirates, it's just a demeaning one enforced by violence. The Kihunters' situation is a mix of other species'.

Speaking of the Zero Mission manga, I also want to tie that characterization more into the Space Pirates, the Zebesians, and the role of 'combat' species in the Federation. There's a scene where a Zebesian confronts Kreatz, an Elfin Federation officer, and points out that his species is demonized by the government he works for; He's clearly fighting a pointless battle here.

So I want to roll with all of this and play with the idea of Earthians as a potential parallel to the Space Pirates; They're both species used by the Federation to fight their wars for them, while other races get to enjoy cushy lives doing softer jobs, especially the leaders. The Zebesian muses that it's only a matter of time before the Federation discards the Earthians in favor of a newer, shinier toy... And Fusion could be foreshadowing this with Metroids, whom the Feds hope can be controlled by the Aurora Units.

Indeed, the use of other races such as the Elfin, or a Simian, or even a Chozo-Human hybrid like Samus, raises an interesting point; Are they not just other like other Space Pirate species, being used as stronger soldiers? Are they not just a specialized unit of the Federation, once again relying on other species for specific roles?

To be called a Diversity Hire is actually wishful thinking, their species are being set up as a resource to exploit. While shiny Earthians are used to project the idea of an independent military to defend themselves with... The Federation actually depends on other, stronger species, who despite this demand are fulfilling a subservient and detested position. Which leaves Earthians unprepared for real war; Their main advantage is in their endless, replenishing numbers, and the equipment they have, all supported by Federation economics.

There's a lot of room for resentment, for frustration, and a very obvious question; If I'm so valued by the Federation for my strength, why not embrace my value, now that I know what I'm worth? Now that I know I'm stronger, and can just as easily conquer the Federation myself; Why else would they ask for me? They demonize me despite my employment to keep me in my place! Maybe someone who can actually fight for their leadership should be in charge...!

I think this raises the possibility of Earthian Space Pirates, as seen in Zebes Invasion Order; Us 'humans' play a unique and unusual role in that we're both the oppressors AND the oppressed. Not perfect victims, which helps account for the variety of the human experience, and it plays into why the military is so human-dominant... I am going by the manga and ignoring other depictions that involve humans as fulfilling civilian leadership roles, too. Earthians are kept in place because they're too busy thriving off the power they have over others to reflect on how they're nevertheless subservient themselves.

The situation of Earthians and its parallel in the Space Pirates is my way of melding together the supremacist views of the Space Pirates in the manga, with the implications and speculation of the Space Pirates as victims of the Federation's bullshit, which plays into Sylux's partnership with them in Beyond. Because there's the tragic aspect in how many Space Pirates WERE used and exploited by the Federation.

And yet, being on the bad end of an unjust hierarchy did not make them want to abolish it. Instead, it made them decide they should be at its top; The horrible takeaway was that a hierarchy SHOULD exist, and that the problem is simply which roles are prioritized. And maybe leaders are valuable, but if they can be overthrown at any moment by someone stronger, maybe that use should be subservient.

Hence the workaround of high command being comprised of those like Ridley or Kraid; They're naturally powerful and strong, they're boss monsters. And of course, they're also tactically brilliant, hence the Space Pirates being able to survive for so long. So some species are naturally qualified over others, but candidates must prove they’re both brains AND brawn to be high command.

The Space Pirates are aware of the problem of having a fighter who can’t lead be in charge; They just brush off this dilemma by insisting their best fighters are also made accordingly smart, and that will place them above Federation leaders who are smart but can’t fight to save their own lives. And any tactical superiority the Federation has vanishes if Earthians realize they can just overthrow their masters; In the end, the hierarchy will favor strength, because all are capable of intelligence, and the strongest only need to be intelligent enough; Their natural power will make up for any deficiencies and legitimize the rest of their authority.

Mother Brain might be an exception to these rules, but mostly if you exclude her technology and control of Zebes, and tbf she's naturally biomechanical; And it's not surprising for a bigoted military institution to have hypocrisy, plus I feel a lot of pirates resent Mother's leadership for multiple reasons. And then there’s Dark Samus, who definitely qualifies despite a smaller stature; Sylux might too, though tbf we don’t know yet if he leads the Space Pirates or is just a mercenary acting as officer, plus he has presumable command over Metroids, and the pirates might be desperate.

And even if you had technology to augment yourself, who cares? I can use technology too, I might need an interface tailored for me, but that’s it; And I can make someone build it. Intelligence, the use of tools; These are shared, and the difference negligible. So the true defining distinction is physical strength, and this is the basis for Space Pirate supremacy; They gleefully call themselves pirates because they know they can compensate for any deficiencies by simply taking what they’re missing, without having to bargain for it like the weaker species. The word ‘Space’ in their name comes from their reach being intergalactic, and it has to be since other worlds’ species are needed to comprise a caste system and be forced into doing the less desirable roles for their masters.

The Space Pirates are supremacists, and indeed a lot of the blame can be assigned to the Galactic Federation for encouraging this understanding that they are naturally stronger and more valuable for it; I can see them as being comparable to poor whites who are reassured by the upper class that their poverty means nothing, because eventually they'll be rich enough to own black slaves. And this is why a lot of poor whites clung to racism after slavery was abolished, because that chance of being bigger than someone else was lost after depending on it.

That's the ideological problem with the Space Pirates, and possibly why Sylux avoided working with them for now; They're not unlike the Federation leadership, two peas in the same pod, they're just fighting over who gets to control the 'natural' caste system, but are also insistent upon it either way. So even for those critical of the 'old Federation army', they would still not appreciate the Space Pirates for similar reasons; But there is an attempt at diplomacy, knowing the history of exploitation for some.

It's still space eugenics, but there's an arguably sympathetic slant to it for some Space Pirates; But not all of them, hence the Zebesians. The Space Pirates can't truly be called liberators, because the ideals with which they uplift themselves inherently excludes others they should have solidarity with, hence the Urtraghue being looked down upon, and the inevitable fate of other, less-celebrated species who also suffer and toil, but are overlooked by the Federation and Pirates alike because their work isn't related to 'glamorous' combat, technology, or leadership. Maybe one could compare this to the folly of real life society’s focus on the military and STEM, I dunno.

In the end, it's a cycle; Is your response to end it? Or let it run so you can get your promised turn in the spotlight and keep it that way, if it even happens?

[sparkylurkdragon]

Drew up gene plans for my little Aethers! I decided they were foundlings taken in by Samus and her Chozo Harpy mother, Tehees. They were named after great Luminoth Mith heroes.

This is S-Dly! Metroid fans my recognise the name of the Luminoth warrior who was killed in Torvus Bog and who was one of the few explicitly female Luminoth. Her genes mimic some of her namesake's blue highlights, as well as the fact that she's found in Torvus. Points was mostly because I like it.

Not entirely sure what S-Dly the dragon's deal is. Perhaps she joins her family in the bounty hunting trade. If so, she got warrior training from the best the Zebesian Harpy clan and the Luminoth Mith clan had to offer. :)

And this is O-Lir, named after the last Sentinel of the Sanctuary Temple. He has a technological theme, both to reflect Sanctuary Fortress and because O-Lir is at the centre of a really funny Metroid Prime 2 glitch. His other genes help accentuate this theme.

I imagine he's probably a hacker, a real bug in any Lightning criminal's computer, and was again trained by the best the Chozo and Luminoth could offer. His mother and grandmother have a lot of pull, after all, and are amongst the best themselves!

(Okay, okay, as a bonus, here's Samus and Tehees.)

[azazelleviathan]

i have a few pieces of art finished but i cant share them yet.. zeebus zorbus...

anyone wanna ask me stuff im bored

the soup man and his odd dog -> 𓁣 𓃩

[shiplikemyhelmet]

The human given scientific name for the Metroid Genus (Zebesian, Tallon, miniriod exc..) is vita comedentis