Designing Aliens

I need to design aliens for my Relaxicon 2015 Game, 'Welcome to the Galactic Zoo!' I'm using Cortex, a simple game best suited to humanoid characters, but I want exotic, 'starfish', aliens, and I *will* have them. Therefore, times to establish some specifications…

These have little to do with anything, just my prejudices, I suppose. What I like and what I hate, really.

I like-

Tentacle horrors, because contrast

Centaurs

Radial symmetry

Also odd, asymmetric critters

Flying or gliding

Swimming and amphibious critters

I hate-

Humanoids and beast-people, I guess. A little. Maybe.

Pure villains or heroes

Aliens are not people in suits. Biology dictates behaviors, sapience over instinct but they come from somewhere

 

Size and mass- humans, generally, are 170 cm and 70 kg, 66" and 154#. Yes, those numbers are not all that meaningful and I came up with them on the fly; 100# weaklings and 300# slobs (err, don't look at me…). Short folk@ 4' and 7' giants. But this is a start. Half an order of magnitude bigger or smaller; 10^.5 = 3.1623 to 1/10^.5 = 0.3162. A centaur would be 1.5 to 2 times, a longer body, up to 3 times for a really stretched out one. For a human shape, height and width are 10^(1/6) = 1.4678*170 = 249.5 cm to 1/10^(1/6) = 0.6813*170 = 115.8 cm.

 

Mass variation within the species might be .5^.5 = 0.7071 to 2^.5 = 1.4142; 50 to 100 kg, 110# to 220#.

Shapes- oh, God, where to begin? Tall and thin like humans vs. short and squat (half as tall and 2^.5 = 1.4142 as wide). Radial might be short and squat, or not; it depends. I'll make the call when I design them.

·         A gliding, tentacle horror with radial symmetry. A predator, tall and thin, skinny, hollow-'boned'?! Mass is 1/10^.5 = 0.3162*70 = 22.1 kg, or 22.1*2.205 = 48.7#. Height is 1/10^.5*2*2 = 1.2649*1.7 = 2.15 m, or 2.15*3.25 = 7', width is 1.2649*.5^.5 = 0.8944 times normal; (.07/1.7)^(1/3)*2 = 0.69*.8944 = 0.617 m. More resources for meat-eaters vs. omnivores like humans, evens out- 10^.5*1/10^.5 = 1.

·         A climbing centaur, long and short, which is 1/2 as tall and 2* as long as tall, short and stout. An arboreal omnivore? 1/10^.5^.5*70*2 = 78.7 kg, 1/10^.5^.5*1.7 = 0.956 m tall and .956*2 = 1.91 m long. Similar diet, larger mass on average is 70/78.7 = 0.8895, a billion less per planet, all other things being equal.

·         Humongous scavenger/grazer. Big and massive gentle asymmetric giants, 10^1.5*70 = 2,213.6 kg 2,213.6*2.205 = 4,881#, completely violating my suggestions above. Height is 1/10th as tall and 10^.5 = 3.1623 as wide for mass, so 10^1.5/10*1.7 = 5.4 meters and 10^1.5^.5*10^.5*.69 = 12.3 m wide… the big guy from my promo! 8-P Figure that that mass is fed on lower impact calories, twice as much lower quality, 10^.5*2 = 6.3 times an omnivore, 1/10^1.5*10^.5*2 = 0.2, one fifth the numbers per world or territory. Consumes mass/10^1.5/2 per day times 10^.5*2 = 6.3 for low-quality scavenge is 2,213.6/10 = 221.4 kg, 1/10th of its' mass per day.

·         Amphibious, seal/otter centaurs? Mermaids. Half as tall, length is twice as long but 2.5* down on their bellies or fully extended in the water. Mass is .5^1.5 human, .5^1.5*70 = 24.75 kg or 24.75*2.205 = 54.6#. Height is (.5^1.5*2.5)^(1/3)*1.7/2 = 0.82 m and length is .82*5 = 4.1 m. Predators who need .5^1.5*10^.5 = 1.118 as much in resources for food as humans, so just slightly lower (1/1.118 = 0.8945) population numbers.

Most of these species are about as numerous as humans, although the second to last is almost an order of magnitude less so. 

This isn't getting me anywhere with Cortex, though…