Truly Alien Aliens

>>55046088
One of the things I like best is non-verbal communication.

Might be posture, or even bioluminescence ala squids.

Different/bizzare reproduction methods are fun too.

Like what if they lay eggs in dead animals? Or budding, or their reproduction method doesn't result in any paternal attachment to their offspring. Then take those eccentricities and build a culture around them.

Don't hesitate to put clashing traits in there either. Maybe the aggressive militant aliens are small and cute by other alien standards.

>>55046242
I was actually going to have the gas-bags communicate via squid-like color and texture changes on their skin. They can actually detect sounds and distinguish them as well or better than humans, but they can't make specific noises without technological assistance.

These are all good jumping off points for weird aliens, though.

>>55046347
Octopus-like, rather. Or maybe squids do it too, I'm not sure.

>>55046088
Plant like aleins might be cool. With little to know food requirements they might have a radically different mental development and social structures.

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Here's your reading assignment for tonight. Come back when you have a 5-page campaign outline with the theme of "what makes an alien is on the inside."

>>55046088

Why don't you use parasitical lice as a template? They have so many delightfully fucked up features that you could twist into a fundamentally alien species.

>>55046242
>Different/bizzare reproduction methods are fun too.
I am writing up a setting revolving around a species that doesn't give birth to the underdeveloped like humans do. Basically a baby will hatch from an egg and find themselves in a hut full of supplies and very simple maps on the walls directing them to civilization. If they're able to make their way through the wastes to the nearest community, using the supplies they are given, they qualify as full citizens, and of course any child too stupid/lazy/sick/etc to solve the quest dies. The Hike and how they approach it is the foundation of any individual's character, and each culture handles it slightly differently. Still grinding through the implications of how it effects the rest of society.

>>55046088
Sector General by James White

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>>55046088
All Tomorrows OP. All you need to know.

A field of mushrooms that is effectively a giant single sentient brain, with the individual mushrooms effectively being brain cells and their spores neurotransmitters.

Lots of good shit in this thread, thank you all. Gonna read some of these books now.

>>55046088
Precursor creations that love all life.

Just a bunch of flying space cubes that love all life.

They are completely mute, don't reproduce(made in factory boxes), powerful and small.

Do to their different needs, different priorities, different communications, and a complete and utter blank about things like reproduction and coming of age

>>55046088
Alien mindset is kinda hard to express, especially in roleplaying, but one can try.
Sometimes it's the Orz with their *silly cow* antics and *dancing*. Sometimes it's just like humans but with certain concepts that are different, or some missing entirely ("Why do you humans have sex for fun? It's incredibly painful for us, we do it just once in our lives!"), or thinking in different ways (Darmok and Jalad, at Tanagra!)

Also kinda unrelated but that Darmok and Jalad aliens' language literally works on memes. Terry Crews, advertising Old Spice. You, when the thread is diamonds.

A friend of mine writing a scifi novel came up with an aquatic creature with a sea slug-like body, a skeletal horse's head, and jellyfish stingers. They're about the size of golden retrievers and are extremely poisonous, they're called Pubbalos.

>>55052084
4chan, when moot fled. Longcat, now forgotten. tfw oldfag. Like tears in rain. See you, space cowboys.

>>55046242
non-verbal communication is cool.

I once thought how itd be possible for there to be an alien species that has a language based on a sort of dna sequencing. The speaker would build a special non-reproductive strand of DNA that was coded for what they wanted to say, and then transmit the DNA to the receiver via a pilus, like a bacteria, the receiver would then decode the DNA and understand the message.

If these species could communicate with humans, just have them in pairs and take long breaks in silence while connected to each other to discuss whatever the humans are asking.

>non verbal/ocular language
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thdC-HlRHWg

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>>55052441
Like the septapods in Arrival. Alien in both language and their way of understanding.

>>55046088
Intelligent, friendly dust mites.

http://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/52513662/#52530356

>>55052441
>All it takes is one time for someone to say "Our powerplants need U235 not U238, we have to enrich and refine the uranium we find"
>and everyone physicist in the universe is going to look up from that sharply and say "He's talking about fission power. Uranium is their word for things with 92 protons in it. Show me every other word they use when discussing this, and I will probably be able to tell you what it means."
This is fucking great.

>>55048807
Why spores and not mycelium?
They could be like Zerg meets fungus zombies, where their original form is the creep rather than some insect.

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>>55046088
for physical designs, just scale up microorganisms.

>>55046088
Hivemind as a memetic virus, that exists in creatures thoughts and can influence them && spread an infection

>>55055998
I actually had that as a disease in a Dark Heresy game. Nurgle decided to get fancy, and infected people became bloated and started growing bioluminescent pustules. Anyone who was in the light was in danger of infection.

>>55052441
>Serious video made by someone with rhotacism
Objectively the cutest speech impediment

>>55052215
I understand your sentiment because we share a common meme vocabulary, but try explaining what you had for breakfast.

>>55056440
And he does good stuff.

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>>55046088

The Hildemar's Knots

>Alien species first discovered in the neutron star KJEI-54-458945 in the Einstein's Revenge Cluster. They consist of knots of the vortex and charge tubes in the neutronium mantle of the neutron star; each individual is a few centimetres across and lives on soliton waves and neutrino flows. They are based on nuclear matter processes, acting naturally on the femtosecond timescale and have nuclear matter manipulation abilities. The Einstein's Revenge Cluster consists of 34 neutron stars, apparently the result of timed supernovas several hundred million years ago. It is unknown if they were caused by the Knots or some species which created the Knots, but all neutron stars are inhabited by different versions of the Knots.

>The Knots appear to have a largely non-material culture where the basis of interaction is trade in self, orthodoxy and authentic noise (?) according to the communication attempts that have been undertaken by various interstellar institutes. Knots appear to view the world as an eternal unchanging structure, where they just play out its logical unfolding in order to cause their existence (?). Most contact attempts have failed, as the Knots consider the world outside the neutronium a highly abstract mathematical problem rather than something to interact with.

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Twilight Imperium has some rather alien aliens.

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>>55057228

just make sure it's not a human with a weird head and a weird skincolor.
Orks, Jar Jar, Greedo and ET are all just that

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>>55057286
There are more.

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I liked this short comic

http://falsepositivecomic.com/2014/05/06/redeem-page-1-cosmic-horror-commic/

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>>55057311
The rest are not very interesting.

>>55057370
I didn't get it.

>>55048807
Clock rate of e^-6 Hz

>>55059980
Abdul Alhazred IN SPACE

>>55046088
Look to the deep ocean for inspiration of things that are truly alien

>>55059980
Nothing really to get, just weird for the sake of it

>>55056440
I like that he has a sense of humor about it

>>55046088
Try giving this and the sequel Echopraxia a look if you can find them.

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>>55061178
Forgot pic.

>>55059980
The aliens communicate by moving a floating ball around, and expect the human to do the same

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>>55046088
Sorry anon,but this is retarded.

Evolution is a copypasting bastard.The selective pressures that would create a sapient alien would also make it humanoid.

>>55062386
Sapience has nothing to do with anatomy.
The only life we know is terran life, maybe in strange wolrds life is fully different to us.
I would advise you to read Stellaris.

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>>55062386
>The selective pressures that would create a sapient alien would also make it a terrestrial omnivore with strong, prehensile digits and a largely temperate preferred habitat

Fixed that for you, you unscientific loon.

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>>55062386

>>55062907
That's a raven

>>55046088
Any of lovecrafts aliens

>>55062386
Your own example works against what you are saying. A sapient alien would probably have one head, two arms, and two legs, but beyond that everything else is up in the air.

>>55062937
It's a sentient, tool making organism able to solve problems, communicate verbally, and understands the concept of being able to ask human beings to take bottle caps off bottles in order to drink.

Ravens are sentient life. In a few million years they could have societies that would be recognizable to people that don't study them.

>>55062937
>>55062907
>>55063161

Nevermore

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>>55063161
Some day

>>55062469
>go read this fiction book
How about you reading some biology books?

>The only life we know is terran life, maybe in strange wolrds life is fully different to us.

Bullshit.Water is literally the second most common molecule of the universe and carbon is the fourth most common element.Both have properties that are extremely useful,if not downright essential for life.
>>55062907
>billaterally simmetric
>biped
>homeothermic
>main sense is vision
>literally talks
>>55063288
Cool.maybe someday their descendants will get the anatomical features needed to chuck spears
>>55063114
>>55062726
It would also be biped and have a head.
>biped
>four limbs
>a head
i dunno,looks kinda humanoid to me.

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>>55063745

>>55062386

Evolution does a lot of copy/pasting on earth because it's working with the same tools. Bats and birds received a shared genetic toolkit from the freer evolutionary meanderings of their earliest ancestors. An alien world would almost certainly have a different earliest evolutionary history that would lead to its later creatures having a different toolkit. Those creatures would often be similar to each other in the way that bats are to birds, because they'd be pulling from the same foundation, but they would likely be very little like humans, or earth life at all.

>>55063810
classic diogenes

>>55052441
Pretty good.

>>55057370
Okay, while I don't have a lot of practical experience in these matters, I feel pretty much the last thing you want to do when finding yourself in contact with strange aliens is start talking a bunch of different languages at once.

>>55063810
Reductio ad absurdum.Yay i win!
>>55063882
The basic building units won't be too different.The need to use energy efficiently will still exist and influence evolution.Even if their ancestor looked nothing like ours,they would evolve in something similar to its terran counterpart.
>>55064861
People don't think well when they're in panic

>>55066956
Nah, he's just taking a jab at your humanoid classification, ol' Diogenes style.

>>55066956
You have to misunderstand evolutionary biology pretty extensively to somehow come up with "Aliens will always look humanoid". Convergent evolution is a real thing, and quite possibly some aliens will by happenstance come to look something sort of like us in the way that insects come to look sort of like birds, but extrapolating from a sample size of one out to the entire universe is absurd.

There are multiple instances of ridiculously implausible happenstance in our evolutionary history that have shaped us to be what we are. How different would every mammal on earth look if some early rodent had developed three sets of limbs instead of two?

Sentience already exists here, on earth, in a species formed by processes so incredibly different than our own that it has developed eight limbs, each of which has its own small "brain", no bones, and the ability to change both the color and texture of its skin to match its surroundings. It uses tools and manipulates its environment. It can also open jars and plan complex escapes from aquariums.

How humanoid is the octopus? It has two eyes, because both of our ancestors had two eyes. That's very nearly it. But these creatures are already extremely intelligent. How many thousands or millions of years might it take them to become as intelligent as us?

So why not a creature with trilateral symmetry, or six sets of limbs, or any number of things that we cannot possibly imagine. You say "The only creatures that can possibly arise from these pressures is this one", but that is not even how it ever worked on earth.

Again, life on earth looks as similar as it does to all other life on earth because our earliest genes, when there was the least restriction of possibility, are very similar, and anything new has to be built off of what is old. It takes an extreme lack of imagination to say that only humanoids could solve the evolutionary problem that create intelligence.

>>55064861
He was wondering if they had met humans before, and so tried some other human languages. Its right there.

>>55056706
MOANING LESCUE. This is a sandwich, it is full of aids and fail.

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>>55046088
Dropping what I have as non humanoid aliens

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>>55069823

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>>55069833

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>>55069843

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>>55069855

>>55069866

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RPeQxjqDb8

>>55048807
>their spores neurotransmitters
Slow thinkers. But they live for millennia.

Put the “brain“ or other vital functions into specific places, like a thorax. Bonus points if they have a head but he is not a vital part. Players usually need a while to figure that one out.

>>55046088
>Mould colonies with a hivemind that are their own ships, propelled by shooting out spores which also colonise nearby planets
>Tree aliens which experience time much slower than other races and take dozens of years to grow branches into hands to communicate, and control their technology by having roots grown into it and sucking out resources in a sort of code (e.g. activating weapons by severely depleting the potassium in them)
>Fish aliens which haven't evolved to leave water or carry it around with them exactly, more they've developed localised antigravity fields which means the water follows their own position as they swim in different directions

>>55057370
did he died?

>>55070335
that last one could be amusing with a technological twist in it.
>"They didn't evolve hands or feet, yet they invented magnetized water! You believe that? Magnetized! Water!"
>"Yeah, and you know what? They say their scientists have recently domesticated it!"
>"Say what now?"
>"They managed to domesticate their magnetized water!"

>>55067581
It's true that they might not look like us at all, but we can make a few estimations.
They most likely will have a manipulation limbs with which they can shape the world, else they won't evolve higher brain function.
Most likely will be land animals. Fire, archery, husbandry and agriculture is more difficult in water.
They can't be much smaller than us, because you need a certain amount of brainmass to achieve sentience. Our brain to body-mass is fairly high, so its likely that the aliens will be bigger than us.

>>55070465
>They most likely will have a manipulation limbs with which they can shape the world, else they won't evolve higher brain function.
Killer whales are sentient and they're about as far from a tool-using species as you get.

>Most likely will be land animals. Fire, archery, husbandry and agriculture is more difficult in water.
I'll give you that.

>They can't be much smaller than us, because you need a certain amount of brainmass to achieve sentience. Our brain to body-mass is fairly high, so its likely that the aliens will be bigger than us.
Birds can solve complex problems using a fraction of our brain mass, so it's possible ours are actually quite inefficient.

>>55046088
>Do you guys have any favorite creatures you like to use that actually seem like they might not be from earth?

I liked the aliens from the Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

What are the chances that any alien species aren't humanoids?

We look like this because of very basic threats and environmental conditions made us evolve so we can survive. We stand on two feet to be taller so we can see father. We have sensory organs to cover as much of our surroundings as possible. Our hands are able to manipulate tools. Our skulls are massive compared to the rest of our body, and we have a very dense brain within such skulls.

Shouldn't some of this translate to any other intelligent species?

>>55073636

>we stand on two feet to be taller so we can see farther.

A species that evolves in a mountainous or unstable environment might select for a more stable locomotive style with more legs. We evolved for a flat plains environment. In addition, we evolved bipedal locomotion for stamina, not height. Also, Giraffes. height isn't decided by walking style.

>We have sensory organs to cover as much of our surroundings as possible.

No. If we did, we'd have echolocation and eyes on the sides of our head with goat or horse-style pupils. What we have is designed for spotting prey at long distances with binocular vision.

>Our hands are able to manipulate tools.

I agree with this one.

>Our skulls are massive compared to the rest of our body, and we have a very dense brain within such skulls.

I'm not certain how the first one is a benefit, and the second one is simply due to how our nervous system developed. What if a species developed with crustacean style nerve ganglia, or octopus style 'hindbrains' for each limb?

>>55067581
imo the main barriers to octopus society development are their solitary lifestyle and mothers dying in childbirth limiting the ability to pass on information.

>>55073972
>Our hands are able to manipulate tools
>I agree with this one
It's worth nothing though, that "hands" in general are not necessarily suited to tool use. The difference between ape and human hands and muscle structure is relatively slight but very significant in effect.

>>55074605

I was more agreeing with the 'tool manipulating' bit. The real advantage of our hands is our opposable thumbs, not so much the hands themselves.

>>55069891
>skin
It's spacesuit.

>>55061196
I loved that damn book. The scene where the mc (can't recall his name) briefly lost his ability to observe as a human still sticks with me.

>>55046740
Just wanted to say thank you to whoever posted this. Enjoying immensely atm.

>>55052441
I wish I wasnt so annoyed by speech impediments.

>>55059980

I think that the worshippers of Azathoth there don't like basic geometry. Right angles and the like. So when he demonstrates right angles and knowledge of geometry, psychic dude tries to warn him that they are Zealots, but its too late.

Then they feed him to their god. Who has some connection with Earth I couldn't figure out

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>>55063810

>>55052084
I read some where that making your character act as completely random as possible and do everything on a spur of the moment was a good way of making them seem more alien.

Basically just make them as weird as possible.

It's worth noting that dolphins are extremely intelligent (highest encephalisation quotient apart from humans) without having manipulatory limbs.

>>55083183

They are also extremely rapey

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>>55083231
More or less than humans?

>>55062386
>The selective pressures that would create a sapient alien
There is no consensus on what these pressures are. You're assuming they're environmental, but the sample size on which you're basing that assumption is terrible. If our environment alone created the pressure that lead to sapience, then it would have happened more than just the one time in our planet's long history of bearing life.

>>55083313

More

>>55074551
They also don't really store information for long. They may relearn how to do the same tricks several times over their lives.

From my Campaign Guide:
The largest sophonts known, the great polyp-like Hauaan have contracted with several interstells to move themselves from Quaalix to the Union. All 23 of them have been loaded onto Leviathan-class megafrieghters, along with their many hundreds of astrologers, entertainers, poets, attendants, sycophants, groupies, personal groomers, publicists, pet care specialists, and metabolic process maintenance staff to Pacifica/Doongkoorlanwornt where they have purchased all of Sayamakannasi Island on the advice of Jimmy Dupree. Mr. Dupree was not licensed or empowered to broker this purchase. The move is technically an act of war. Jimmy has gone missing. The ships should arrive in Pacifica in a few weeks, hostilities are scheduled to start a few seconds later.

>>55086270
More from the CG:
Lacertan
The Oothmali, or to Human reckoning, the Lacertans, are trilaterally symmetrical sophonts occupying 3 major worlds and 15 moons in Lacerta Sector. They are a common sight as far away as Dark Cloud and Celestial Chorus. When first encountered in the late 24th Century, they were puttering along on NLS drives rated at 90% of c. Careful negotiations brought them into the Union on April 1st, 2497.
Lacertan Evolution
While many humans maintain that Lacertans arose from animated annoyance and coalescent rudeness, it is known that they evolved naturally on the largest moon of Kali, in Lacerta Sector. Most life forms on Oothmal are trilaterally symmetrical as well. They were opportunistic browsers, like Humans, with more selective pressure and a far more variable climate. This has led to a group mentality (though not a hive mind in any sense) based on mutual defense and an increased sense of community. Lacertans have a need to be a part of something, to fit in and be of benefit to a group, no matter how small.
An isolated Lacertan will commit suicide in a matter of weeks.
Lacertan Physiology
Lacertans display trilateral symmetry. That is, their organs and limbs are arranged along a rotational y-axis. Each of their features are situated at 120 around the creature. They have 3 arms, 3 legs, 3 ears, 3 eyes and 3 wiggly sensory extensions at the top of their bodies. An ear is located just above each eye. Breathing is accomplished by means of respiratory openings just under each eye. They speak by means of the respiratory orifices, and talented Lacertans can act as their own backup singers.
At the base of the body, where the legs meet, is a multifunction orifice that performs food intake, waste elimination and sexual reproductive functions.

>>55086329
Continued:
Each upper limb ends in a six-digit hand, each hand having four fingers and two opposable thumbs. Because of this arrangement, they use a base-18 mathematics system.
They typically display warm coloration, with oranges and reds predominating. Various patterns of light blue bioluminescence are present across their heads, arms and legs. The wiggly sensor extensions also glow softly. This glow brightens when the person is angry or excited.
They distinguish not right and left, but directions roughly translated as one, two and three. Such things come naturally, but bilateral races tend to struggle with the idea. Many precious seconds have ticked by while a Human tries to figure out in which hand to place tools or ammo when asked.
They reproduce via a typical two gender split. Both male and female sex organs are present in Lacertans, and activate on subtle clues given off during courtship. Essentially, the two prospective parents will dance, fight, throw things and otherwise compete physically and socially for the right to bear the young. The winner of the competition becomes female.
Lacertan Culture
Lacertans understand concepts of privacy somewhat poorly, but have no need of them, and unless matters of personal space and property are explained to them (as often as possible) they will intrude and “steal” whenever they can. It can be very disturbing to suddenly find a six foot tall, six-limbed orange and blue sausage reading over your shoulder.
They are curious to a fault, often wandering into places best left undisturbed. They are not stupid, overconfident or otherwise mentally impaired, and do not go haphazardly into obviously dangerous areas without a great deal of preparation.
Lacertan Psionics
Unsettlingly, Lacertans Psions are almost always Jumpers.

>>55086343
Even More:
Lacertan Names
Lacertan speech is formed by expelling air through the respiratory slits located under each eye. Their native “tongue” sounds a bit like a harmonica, though less melodic. As most races cannot make these sounds without assistance, a great many Lacertans adopt Human or Rhee names.
Lacertan singing sounds like the Blues.
Lacertan Nutrition
An Oothmali can digest a wide range of foods. They are fond of heavily spiced dishes, and often carry their own spice stash with them, just in case.
The atypical arrangement of their digestive tract has left the Lacerta with the ability to filter out toxins, leaving them immune to most poisons.

>>55052441
Wow, this is great. I'll be checking this guy out.

>>55059980
I assume he was tortured. Obviously, his neighbor knew what would happen to him, and got back from it.

>>55046740
Didn't read that one. It's good. Thanks, anon.

>>55070998
>sentient
You keep using that word, I don't you you know what it means.

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The Cheela from the novel "Dragons Egg" are very interesting.

>>55073636
It's possible we'd have similarities, but we are a savanna ape, and that's really what our bodies are made for. It's not the body plan of a sapient being as such but the body plan of a savanna ape which happens to be compatible with sapience.

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Hate to be cliche, but Lovecraft has a hell of a lot of cool inhuman alien races. The Mi-Go, the Elder Things, the Great Race of Yith, etc. etc.

Why not do some looking at that?

How about making aliens that use photosynthesis while using some sort of unordinary means of movment (For an instance, using a planet's low gravity to glide around)

>>55090232
If the planet is small enough (which a planet with low gravity would be) they could constantly orbit it so that they would always be on the side the sun is facing in order to have a constant source of energy.

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>>55082877

BEHOLD A MAN

>yfw they added "with broad flat nails"

>>55063218
Goddamnit now I miss those fucking Lenore threads with their fucking bird aliens. They weren't the best but they at least were fucking weird about shit.

>>55091835
Please, for the love of god, a link. I need to see this.

>>55083313
Raping the young of other species to death through new holes they invented, for sport, so slightly more than humans on average. Dolphins also do recreational narcotics.

>>55086624
>keep using
I only count one.

>>55048733
This was an extremely disturbing but excellent read. Thank you.

What does /tg/ think about intelligent species that develop with no manipulators?

I worldbuild as a hobby, and the idea came about when I was considering intelligent animals and how they would work. Humans are really focused on being able to manipulate things with their hands, because they're a pretty big part of our lives. But who's to say a different species without manipulators couldn't create a society just as complex? Like if wolves were intelligent and they created a complex hierarchy in their packs with a deep vocabulary, or something of that sort. Just without spears and cars and computers and shit.

I'm not good with words, so if someone else with a similar viewpoint back me up I'd be appreciative.

2300ad has some pretty alien aliens

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>here's your alien

>>55046088
There's a webcomic called The Accidental Space Spy that's basically a masterclass on truly alien aliens. A weird alien species will be introduced at the beginning of an given arc, then eventually you'll get a look back at how that aliens biology and environmental factors led to the traits that make it so strange being naturally selected and how that effects the alien culture. It's not well drawn, but the art isn't what draws you to the comic.

There's just weird shit. Like a planet where, because of the way life evolved, nothing has a memory longer than 30 minutes and most of the creatures there have a much shorter memory. You see a lot of creatures on this planet and get a good look at what sort of survival strategies have evolved for dealing with this odd situation. The same goes for the planet that has a zone that turns anything that enters it invisible after 3 hours, or one where the aliens are violently hostile to anyone they think is lying. There's a music artist that travels with a whole entourage of different aliens so they can translate her music for aliens whose languages are scent, taste, touch, sight, and electromagnetic wave based.