by Luna Maru -

Creature Design – Visual Exploration (Part 3)

This will be the final part of my worldbuilding concept: Today I want to discuss the Final Consumers, as well as the Decomposers of my ecosystem.

Final Consumers

Leviathans are the dominant intelligent species living on Europa. They are the largest members of the class Multibracchia, growing up to be around 15m tall. Their last common ancestor with other members of their class was around 10 million years ago, from which point they evolved away from being free-swimming, instead using their two front tentacles to traverse the ocean floor, leaving the other four free for the usage of tools.

Their beak has moved from the centre of their tentacles, to the front of their head, giving them a forward-facing appearance similar to us humans. The fins on the side of their head serve no purpose anymore, though the size and shape hints at the origin of the Leviathan; longer ones indicating someone from abyssal regions, shorter ones indicating at someone from mid-level regions. Their skin tones range from shades of orange to red, which seems to hinge on the depths they settle in and less so actual genetics. Leviathans have a very complex system of language – using bioluminescent signals made with the spot atop their heads to communicate. Brightness, duration (not only of the signal itself, but also its brightening and fading) and fluctuation play into it.

They have settlements all across the mid-level oceans of Europa, built on the foot of large-scale vents where rich ecosystems have been established. Here they have built a form of agriculture; farming Iron Jaws, the much larger relative of the Iron Beak (and comparable to the Giant Clam on Earth). They also keep livestock in the form of Sea Maids; a domesticated form of the Sea Nymphs – this sub-species has completely atrophied fins and is much to heavy and slow to re-enter the wilderness, however. Leviathans also spread out to the cliffs bordering on the abyssal depths, where they hunt Shell-Breakers and other large Cancernatans in so called “hunting villages”.

As it seems they’re still in the early stages of civilization. Though it is unknown to which degree they will be able to develop technology, given that their circumstances are very different to ours as they are confined to the depths of the ocean.

Decomposers

Though the Depth Strider may look very imposing – being about the size of an adult human man – this member of the order of Reptator acts mostly as a scavenger, eating dead and decaying soft-bodied organism they find in shallow to mid-level oceans. On occasion they are also known to eat slow-or unmovingLaminaferrealike Iron Beaks; sticking their long arms into the stone cracks, where they reside in and prying open their shells. Some sub-species have also evolved to eat Floaters, who they catch by climbing up the vents and grabbing them out of the water.

Boneyard Crabs are part of the Armaturatus phylum, distantly related to the White Bristle Crab. They evolved away from being filter feeders, instead turning into scavengers that can be found on the abyssal ocean floor. They feed on the bodies of all matter of large marine animals; from Sea Nymphs to Black Phantoms. They play a valuable role in the ecosystem by preventing the accumulation of decaying matter – they are considered the clean-up crew of Europa’s oceans.

Once a body sinks all the way to the bottom they show up in droves, often hundreds of them crawl out from all sorts of caves and crevices and pick skeletons and exoskeletons completely clean with their two sets of pincers.

by Luna Maru -

Creature Design – Visual Exploration (Part 2)

Last time I showed my concepts for Producers and Primary Consumers in the oceans of Europa, today we move on the Secondary and Tertiary Consumers.

Secondary Consumers

Volcanic Slugs are part of the same phylum as Iron Beaks, the Laminaferrea, though they belong to a wholly different class – the Saxumlucidum, a strange case of convergent evolution leading to class of animals similar to gastropods on Earth. Though unlike the gastropods we are familiar with they have developed a kind of scales on their back. It’s not clear yet what the purpose of these is, though it might be a way to protect themselves from other members of their species, as they often show cannibalistic tendencies.

Volcanic Slugs are commonly found in the shallow zones, though there are around 2.000 species we know of so far that can be found even in depths of around 70km. Volcanic Slugs are exclusively carnivores mainly predating on Antennae Trees, whose chemical-laden bodies they are not only able to process, but also turn into a strong toxin that deters predators. This might also be the reason for their bright colour.

The Pipe Cleaner Crab is another member of the Reptator order and has evolved to be monophagous, meaning they exclusively eat one type of prey.  As the name might suggest, this prey is the Pipe Worm. The Pipe Cleaner Crab will crawl up their shell-structures and shove their heads into the openings. With their long, barbed tongue they will impale the worm and pull it out in pieces to be devoured. Due to their rapid metabolism, they spend a majority of their time eating, devouring about 40%-50% of their own body weight each day.

Sea Nymphs are part of the Cancernatans order, which represents members of the Armaturatus phylum that have evolved away from being ground-dwellers and instead developed their appendages into fins, allowing them to swim in the open ocean. Sea Nymphs grow to be around 1.7m, and predate on any Armaturatus, that’s small enough to fit into their claws. These claws have a very similar shape to a crab cracker tool and serve the same purpose – crushing their prey’s shell so they can get to its soft insides.

Sea Nymphs can be found anywhere in shallow to mid-level oceans. Though they are technically free-swimming, they live very close to the ocean floor and will crawl around quite frequently given that their legs haven’t atrophied as is very common for other members of their order.

Tertiary Consumers

Shell-Breakers are one of the most feared predators in the oceans of Europa. They’re the largest member of the Cancernatans order, growing up to be around 2.8m long. They’re pursuit predators and hunt solitary – they usually prey on Sea Nymphs and other large members of the Armaturatus phylum that they hunt down to exhaustion. They have articulated “fangs” that allow them to not only capture their prey, but also crush it apart in order to get through its shell.

Shell-Breakers reach burst speeds up to 55 -58km/h and never stop moving, even if they sleep. Instead they enter a state of unihemispheric slow-wave sleep, where only one half of their brain rests at a time. This evolved as a way to protect them from predators, as well as allow them to travel great distances to hunt food, given the steady diet needed to support their large size. They live primarily in mid-level oceans, though they often need to travel deeper due to competition for food with other members of their species.

Black Phantoms are the second largest members of the phylum Laminaferrea, class Multibracchia, growing up to around 5.7m. Multibracchia are a squid-like group of animals. They commonly have six arms, though these aren’t slender and pointy like tentacles but rather spoon-shaped with suckers only in the middle of them.

Black Phantoms have webbing between their arms, resembling a cloak, that they use to rapidly engulf their prey and thus stun it before it realizes what’s happened to them. The plating on their heads is a left-over from their common ancestor with other Laminaferrea, though it does seem to play a part in territorial disputes, being used to bash against each other in order to show dominance. The “wings” on the sides of their head are used for locomotion by being flapped up and down, allowing them to reach speeds of up to 15km/h. While Black Phantoms might not be the fastest, they are highly intelligent – frequently employing ambush tactics in order to capture their prey, blending in with the darkness of the abyssal oceans that they reside in. They often lie in wait for hours in order to catch their prey, these being primarily Shell-Breakers, but also most other large marine animals.

by Luna Maru -

Creature Design – Visual Exploration (Part 1)

Last time we discussed what structure an ecosystem on Europa could have, today it’s time to explore it. I’ve grouped the animals into their place in the food chain. This way I can build it up gradually, thinking about the way animals would need to evolve to be able to consume their prey or flee from becoming prey themselves.

I put my focus on arthropods, molluscs, cnidaria, annelids and cephalopods – no bony fish, as they seem to be far and in-between and soft tissue animals or those with a shell or exoskeleton dominate around the hydrothermal vents.

I also structured my ecosystem along the aquatic food web. Here, the base is made up of producers, in this case these would be the chemosynthetic bacteria. These are eaten by the primary consumers, who are eaten by the secondary consumers, who are eaten by the tertiary consumers or final consumers. finally, everything that’s left over is broken down by the decomposers.

Producers

Chemoplankton form the basis for life down around the hydrothermal vents of Europa. Through the biological conversion of the minerals and chemicals contained in the vents they produce energy and synthesize organic matter.

Primary Consumers

Floaters make up the subphylum of Vitrummarinum a group of animals comparable to jellyfish on Earth. They can be found in the waters right above the vents, drifting in and out of the plumes of smoke being expelled. They possess almost no sensory organs, neither do they have a brain – only a rudimentary sensory system that allows them to detect light, temperature and vibrations in the water. The opening in the centre of their body is filled with soft bristled that they use for filter feeding, which is usually done by “sitting” atop active vents.

Two species of them dominate in the oceans of Europa:

Red Cloaks (Anulusnatans palliumrubrum), which stand out with their diameter of around two meters. They have developed a sort of funnel made from tissue, allowing them to feed from the large vents in volcanically active areas.

Glass Towers (Anulusnatans turrisvitrea) live in shallower oceans and grow only to a diameter of around 40cm. While they lack the funnel structure of their deep-sea cousins, they found a different way to maximize food intake: they “fuse” together with other members of their species, building large, tower-like structures that allow them to feed thoroughly and deter predators due to their unwieldy size.

Although Antennae Trees may look like plants, they actually are part of the phylum Caulispennatus. They settle around the vents in both shallow and deep waters, where they dig into cracks and openings in the rock and remain sedentary. Antennae Trees are passive suspension feeders, using their feathered arms to filter Chemoplankton out of the water. Their stems are platted, likely an adaption to process their mineral-heavy diet and protect themselves from predators. They are able to swim by swinging their bodies back and forth, allowing them to move to different feeding grounds and evade predators.

Pipe Worms are part of the same phylum as Antennae Trees, though they separated from their common ancestor around 400 million years ago. Their colonies can be found mostly around the equator, where the tides are strongest and thus the ocean the warmest. They expand often hundreds of square meters across the ocean floor. Their black pipe-like shells are composed from iron sulphides, that are excreted as they filter the black vent smoke for Chemoplankton. These shells protect them from a wide range of predators, allowing them to hide away whenever they sense unusual vibrations in the water.

Iron Beaks belong to the Laminaferrea phylum, a group of mollusc-like animals. Their name is due to the long, beak shape they grow into; young Iron Beaks are visually comparable to oysters but overtime they rather grow in length than overall size. This allows them to safely filter food from inside they rocky crevices they reside in. They commonly live in the shallow zone, though there are species that adapted to life all the way down in the abyss. They are composed of two hinged halves protecting their soft inner body. The black colour of their shell is due to the iron sulphides in their diet.

The White Bristle Crab lies in the Armaturatus phylum, which is a group of animals defined through the segmented shell protecting their bodies, similar to a knight’s armor. The White Bristle Crab is one of the most common representatives of the Reptator order, who are exclusively ground-dwelling. They live directly on the vents, roving around in large groups. Their long-bristled antennae are home to bacteria, which go through a process called chemosynthesis that detoxifies the poisonous minerals from the water and turn them into organic matter (–> see Chemoplankton). By “cleaning” their antennae the White Bristle Crabs are able to harvest this organic matter. They lack any kind of image-forming organ, though they are extremely sensitive to vibration.

Sources:

by Luna Maru -

How to Structure an Ecosystem

I’ve discussed the setting for my worldbuilding project, so today I’d like to get into the ecosystem. To take a look at how life evolves – the rules it follows and how it will change over time. I also want to explore what animals might evolve in this environment based on what animals we know live around the hydrothermal vents on Earth.

Animal Architecture – Repetition, Symmetry & Polarity

First, let’s get down the facts of animal architecture – how is life structured?

When looking at fossils, we can draw a lot of conclusions about evolution’s pervasive use of repeating parts and modular architecture in animal designs. Even individual body parts reflect this theme of modular design – the limbs of four-legged vertebrates are all made up of thigh, calf, ankle or upper arm, forearm, wrist and the hands and feet bear five similar digits. Something that can be found as far back as the Jurassic.

No matter how complex or bizarre the outward appearance of an animal may be – beneath it they are all constructed along recognizable, similar themes. It’s all about repetition; repeated parts and within those repeating units. The most obvious difference between groups of animals are the number and kind of repeated structures. When comparing these parts however, it’s important to discern if it’s the same body part that might have been changed/adapted. This is referred to as a “homolog” and would apply to our fore- and hindlimbs, for example. Or different shapes of teeth that are specifically adapted for biting, tearing or compacting food. These are all structures that arose as a repeated series and over time differentiated to varying degrees in different animals.

Another point in animal architecture is symmetry – most animals are bilaterally symmetrical, meaning their left and right sides match and they have a central axis of symmetry running down the middle of the long axis of the body. This also enables a front/rear orientation, which played an important part in the evolution of locomotion.

Thirdly, let’s talk about polarity. This is essential to how we are built from a purely structural point. Most animals possess three axes of polarity: head to tail, top to bottom/back and front and near to far from the body/torso (e.g. limbs).

Diversification of Life

Variation in shape also directly leads into evolution – the changes in the number and kind of serial homologs are considered a principal theme here. Early groups of animals tended to have a large number of similar repeating parts, but later groups would specialize these structures more and more. These specialized structures also wouldn’t revert back to more generalized forms.

The Basis for Life in Europa

Researching about primitive life during the last semester taught me that even with the animal itself long gone, we can draw conclusions about it by drawing parallels to animals known today. Similar features and structures are likely to have served a similar purpose, so it makes sense to take a look at what lifeforms live around our hydrothermal vents on Earth and use them as a stepping stone for creating an alien ecosystem.

These animals would be the following:

  • Bristle Worms (e.g.: pompeii worm, sulfide worm)
  • Segmented Worms (e.g.: tube worms)
  • Jellyfish (e.g.: Lucernaria janetae)
  • Sea Anemones (e.g.: Relicanthus daphneae)
  • Crustaceans like shrimp, crabs, lobsters – many of which lack eyes (e.g.: Alvinocarididae, Bythograeidae, Yeti Crabs/Lobsters)
  • Molluscs like mussels, clams, snails (e.g.: Bathymodiolus thermophilus, Calyptogena magnifica, scaly-foot snail)
  • Tonguefish (e.g.: Symphurus thermophilus)
  • Ray-Finned Fish (e.g.: Eelpouts)
  • Cephalopods (e.g.: Vulcanoctopus)

Sources:

(1) Carrol, Sean B.: Endless Forms Most Beautiful. The New Science of Evo Devo. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2005 [E-Book]

(2) Wikipedia. Die freie Enzyklopädie (21.03.2017), s.v. Category: Animals living on hydrothermal vents, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Animals_living_on_hydrothermal_vents (zuletzt aufgerufen am 31.03.2025)

by Luna Maru -

Creating Alien Environments

Last time I talked about using Jupiter’s moon Europa as basis for worldbuilding. Today, let’s look at what the parameters are – what we can surmise about Europa as well as the bottom of the sea floor.

The Oceans of Europa

Europa is covered by an ice shell, which could be from a few kilometres to as much as 30 km thick. The fractures in the ice criss-cross along its surface, showing regions that are “geologically chaotic”. Here the ice would be especially thin and allow sunlight to peak through.

Europa has a density of about 3,000 kg/m3, same as our moon. This means it has enough rock mass to form a proper sea floor. Unlike our moon however, water makes up about 6% of its total mass. In comparison, Earth is about 0.02% water. This means the oceans on Europa are much vaster and deeper than on Earth – about 100 km of depth. Earth’s deepest point, the Challenger Deep, only ranges about 11km.

Europa has a lot of sulfur, as seen in the yellowish-reddish-brown regions on its surface. It has about the same amount of carbon dioxide as in our atmosphere, which means carbon as a basis for life is available.

Life Around the Hydrothermal Vents

Hydrothermal vents exist in total darkness, under relentless water pressure. They spew hot water loaded with dissolved gases and minerals, which quickly cools down and forms solid structures around the vent – these are also known as vent chimneys. Depending on the temperature these vents expel white or black “smoke”.

White smokers occur at lower temperatures, they appear white because of the minerals they carry. These are usually silica and barite. Black smokers are hotter and carry iron sulphides for the most part.

Life around the hydrothermal vents is rich and bizarre – ranging from red tube worms, molluscs and crustaceans all the way to octopuses and eelpout fish. The food chain relies on chemosynthesis, which works similar to photosynthesis. But instead of using sunlight as energy, the bacteria use chemicals from the vent smoke.

First Explorations

I started my process by looking at how life by the thermal vents looked like – making studies of the structures, finding ways to translate what I see into my personal drawing style.

Afterwards I started to experiment; how could I estrange the shapes, but keep them looking believable? What diversity could exist in its forms?

Sources

by Luna Maru -

Using “Alien Oceans” as Basis for Worldbuilding

In order to continue my research into how we could depict life outside our known world, I began reading the book Alien Oceans by the astrobiologist and planetary scientist Kevin Peter Hand. The book explores the possibility of life within our solar system – though not on a planet, but on Jupiter’s moons.

I want to explore what alien life on one of these moons, more specifically Europa, could look like – what environment could exist, what flora, what fauna. What intelligent life could look like – how it would behave, communicate, what culture it would develop. Using both science and my own imagination I want to create a far-off world and use this book as basis for storytelling.

Life Here and Possibly Elsewhere

But first of, what’s so special about Jupiter’s moons? How could life possibly exist there? Well, for a long-time we believed alien life was only possible in the habitable zone, on a planet not too hot or too cold. But that’s not true. Life is possible on the floor of our oceans, down where no light or warmth from the sun may ever reach. Entire ecosystems have grown around hydrothermal vents deep in the Arctic Ocean. It’s quite likely that under the frozen surface of Jupiter’s moons lie unknown oceans, brimming with life.

What is needed to sustain an ocean out there?

Ice: The ice surface of Saturn’s moons serves as a kind of blanket – it keeps in the heat generated in the bottom of the ocean.

Seafloor: The moons would need the necessary space and materials to form hydrothermal vents – it has to have a rocky seafloor.

Tidal Pull: The heat needed for creating and sustaining liquid water oceans would be most likely generated by tidal energy – for this the moons would need to experience a changing gravitational field. Meaning they would need elliptical orbits. E.g..: Europa and Ganymede

Planet Size: If a moon is too large, it’s possible that that the pressure within may be high enough for ice to form at the bottom of the ocean, thus stopping hydrothermal vents from forming. Thus, smaller to medium-sized high-density moons are more likely to have the right measurements for chemically rich liquid water oceans in contact with rocky seafloors. E.g.: Enceladus and Europa

This leaves three moons as possible hot spots for alien life – Europa and Enceladus possess the right combination of liquid water, elements, and energy to sustain life. While Titan might be too big to have a rocky seafloor, it’s flush with carbon and interesting organic chemistry that could support life.

Sources

  • Hand, Kevin Peter: Alien Oceans. The Search for Life in the Depths of Space. New Jersey, Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press 2020 [E-Book]
by Luna Maru -

Yesterday, Tomorrow, Elsewhere – Summary

Life before us, life after us, life on other planets – we’ve explored what this might look like, both in reality and media. So what conclusions are we able to draw here?

What We Know

Yesterday: While extinct life might be far away from our documented history, there are a lot of things we can conclude about them from fossil findings. Diet, size, life cycle, habitat, all these can be inferred about from well-enough preserved fossils.

Tomorrow: Evolution is not a simple, easy process – it has no steady progression, happens rather in fits and starts. Life adapts where it can or just perishes. New species rise to the top while others quietly fade away.

Elsewhere: Despite the sheer vastness of the universe, earth-like planets are incredibly rare. So rare in fact, that we have yet to find a planet that would be suitable or even habitable for humans without artificial interference. And even if we would find a planet that’s technically habitable it’s not a guarantee for life. The conditions needed to form life might not be able to sustain it in the long-term.

What We Can Guess

Yesterday: Life doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it’s possible to draw conclusions about extinct animals when comparing them to ones currently alive. Similar features are likely to have served a similar purpose and can be studied today to find out more about what advantage they had in the past.

Tomorrow: It’s unlikely that us humans will ever undergo another major step in evolution. We’re too wide-spread, too robust to ever truly need to change. If anything, we will die out rather than change. Though this will not necessarily mean the end of life itself.

Elsewhere: Using earth as basis, we can infer what conditions are needed to support life. Conditions like the availability of water, energy and carbon are key to make a planet habitable. We can also draw conclusions about alien life using life on earth – if the nature of the universe is the same everywhere, life elsewhere should abide the same rules. This of course assumes that any planet with the ability to sustain life will contain it.

What We Make Up

Yesterday: Unfortunately, science can only bring us so far when it comes to reconstructing extinct animals. Body parts like soft tissue as well as integument, colouration rarely get preserved. Behaviour, too, will never be able to be predicted with absolute certainty. We might be able to fill in the blanks but will never know if we were right.

Tomorrow: We can’t know for sure who will come after us. Which species would survive the sixth extinction and become the next rulers of the world. Or if that will be a possibility at all, if earth will ever host intelligent life again or go back to being a savage planet.

Elsewhere: We should try not to fall into a human-centric view when making depictions of alien life – it might not look like anything we’re familiar with. Or anything we can even imagine.

by Luna Maru -

The Fantastical Early Days of Man in “Mezolith” – Media Analysis

About the Book

Mezolith is a duology of British graphic novels, written by Ben Haggarty and illustrated by Adam Brockbank. Book One was released in February 2016, Book Two in September of the same year.

Plot

The story takes place about 10,000 years ago, during the Mesolithic. It centres the Kansa tribe, who lives on the eastern shores of Stone Age Britain, and tells about their trials and tribulations as they try to survive through winters and summers.

The protagonist is Poika, a young boy on the verge of adulthood. He gets wounded during a hunt because he was trying to prove himself to the others. He nearly dies, only being saved through the intervention of Korppi Velho, a shaman woman, who was raised by ravens. He survives, though he will have a limp for the rest of his life.

He goes on to make his way through the struggles of adulthood, of survival, of hunts, of conflict, of rituals and love. These struggles are often interspersed with mythology – stories of strange creatures, monsters and gods alike. Either as he experiences them face to face or listens to the tales told by his elders.

Themes

Mezolith is a Coming-of-Age story that explores themes of identity and belonging as Poika tries to find his way in the world. He’s also forced to confront his destiny as his shamanistic abilities become more apparent. This leads to certain responsibilities being thrust upon him. For example, standing up to his elders when he knows they’re doing wrong and helping to keep a balance between their tribe and nature.

Between History and Fantasy

Mezolith plays with the border between reality and fiction. The story is placed in a real part of our history, an era recorded through cave paintings and archaeological findings. There are things we know for certain, and things we can only infer about this time through hypothesis.

This very real past is interspersed with mythology, stories we’ve carried through history to make sense of a world we didn’t yet understand. Stories that felt very near and real to the people living in this time. To them, spirits inhabited the world around, magic was real, be it benevolent or harmful.

Mezolith uses what we know of this past world and contrasts it with the world our ancestors believed in. It reflects on how we use stories to create meaning – to teach, to record, to entertain one another.

Sources

  • Haggarty, Ben. Brockbank, Adam: Mezolith. Stone Age Dreams and Nightmares. Book 1. Los Angeles: BOOM! Studios 2016
  • Haggarty, Ben. Brockbank, Adam: Mezolith. Stone Age Dreams and Nightmares. Book 2. Los Angeles: BOOM! Studios 2016
by Luna Maru -

Future Evolution & Alien Life in “Humanity Lost” – Media Analysis

We’ve explored the scientific basis for future evolution, extinct species and alien life enough to know what it might look like in real life. But how does this knowledge translate in media? In fictional stories like movies, TV shows, books and comics?

About the Book

Humanity Lost is a comic series written by the science fiction/fantasy artist and writer Callum Stephen Diggle.

Volume One of Humanity Lost is a compilation of the first five issues of the comic, along with a guide that explains the worldbuilding and species of the series.

Plot

Our protagonist Losté wakes up from stasis, in the remnants of a space station he boarded as part of their mission to colonize the planet Chiron. He was only supposed to be in stasis for a few years, instead 400 years have passed while he was under. He’s the sole survivor of his crew, with only the ship’s AI Belfast being left to help him make sense of what happened.

While he was in stasis, mankind declared war against the Conglomerate, an allegiance of alien lifeforms. The war was declared over humanity’s colonization and enslavement of the natives of Chiron, for which the Conglomerate wanted justice. Desperate to rise against their enemies, humanity created an AI called the All-Mother, which allowed them to win the war.

But it had a terrible cost. The All-Mother went rogue and reached singularity, growing beyond human control and enslaving them. Humans were mutated into unrecognizable shapes and forms, being turned into food, soldiers and whatever else the All-Mother needed. The All-Mother spread out throughout the universe, creating more and more colonies as she tries to take over the Milky Way. The Conglomerate continues to be locked into war with her, hoping to stop her from assimilating the entire universe.

In all this Losté, as the last remaining unmutated human, seems to be the key to defeating her.

Themes

Humanity Lost discusses themes of identity – How do our memories define us? What does it mean to be human? What happens to us if we lose sight of what’s important? How will technology change us? How will our view of the world change if we meet alien life?

As well as considering dichotomies like faith vs. science, destiny vs. free will, control vs. autonomy. At its core, the story is about hope, about trying to overcome the worst that has happened to humanity and finding a way to fix it – or at the very least stop it.

Designing Alien Life

Alien designs are often victim to a human-centric view of the world; at best they have an unnatural skin colour, some extra eyes, tentacles instead of hair…and almost always two arms and legs. They never dare to stray too far away from what’s familiar and thus appealing to us.

Humanity Lost breaks away from this familiarity to create aliens that are truly out of this world. Their shapes are hard to parse, lacking any features that mimic ours – often even lacking something we could possibly recognize as a face. Their design undermines how out of place Losté is in this strange new world. And despite all that making connections with others, looking beyond what’s on the surface as he is forced to adapt if he wants to make it through alife.

Various alien species that are part of the Conglomerate

The Future of Man

Humanity Lost explores not a natural, but a forced evolution of mankind. How we could look if any kind of autonomy and personality was taken from us, instead being broken down into tools with base functions. What will we look like if stripped of anything that a machine deems unnecessary? How will a human looked when optimized to fulfil a specific duty?

A lot of these new humans look like giant insects with dense bodies. Creatures made from exposed bone and muscle, gifted with powerful psychic abilities. Any familiar shape is lost, forcing us to confront what is left of us if we can’t even recognize our own faces. How we are meant to move on if life as we know it is forever out of our reach and we are forced to make a new world out of what is left?

Humans before and after undergoing forced evolution at the hands of the All-Mother

Sources

  • Diggle, Stephen Callum: Humanity Lost. Volume One. Poland: Amazon Fulfillment 2023
by Luna Maru -

What Can We Conclude About Alien Life Through “The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy”?

About the Book

The book was written by the zoologist Dr. Arik Kershenbaum, who’s also a member of the international board of advisors for METI.org, a think tank on the topic of Messaging Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. The book is an exploration of what aliens could be like based around what we know about our current eco-system.

Aliens, Animals and Alien Animals

After giving a brief insight into the topic – what the current position of science is, what we can infer about aliens with our knowledge of zoology on earth, the book goes into the discussion of what is common in life on earth.

Kershenbaum declares that “If the nature of the universe is the same everywhere, then life conforms to the same rules everywhere.” Meaning there should be biological, universal laws, that form the absolute basics of what constrains life, and dictates its nature. If we find these, we can make general assumptions about life on other planets.

Form vs Function

Convergent Evolution – Sometimes different animal species evolve into similar shapes because evolution tends to work similarly in similar environments (ichthyosaur and dolphin pictured here)

First, it’s important to separate form and function. Why are certain characteristics and behaviours prevalent? What purpose do they serve? What evolutionary role? Almost all the forms we see in animals have some function that improves the animal’s ability to live, thrive and survive.Sure, sometimes evolutionary “accidents” do occur, where a form has no proper function. But maybe it used to serve a purpose that’s not needed anymore.

Whales still have hip bones even though they don’t need them anymore because they used to be land mammals.

It’s also important to define what exactly an animal is. What separates us from other lifeforms like fungi for example? And in turn what would we perceive as an alien lifeform?

Movement

Animals need to move to survive, it’s an evolutionary pressure. Hunting, escaping predators, travelling from point A to point B (to find more food) – we need to move to achieve any of these things.

Communication

The senses – sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste – aren’t just for taking in our surroundings. Some of these signs and signals are directed at similar or other animals to communicate. The world is full of signals being transmitted through different physical means, though sight and sound are the most obvious to us. Even if alien life might communicate in completely different ways and wavelengths, they would still need to communicate somehow.

Intelligence

Humans and animal don’t outwardly share the same level of intelligence, but does that mean there is a qualitative difference between our cognitive abilities? And what if anything is fundamental to intelligence? What particular behaviours or abilities do we view as a sign of intelligence? Or should we focus on the brain itself? Its shape, size, the way it’s programmed? It’s not easy to measure intelligence, especially when we do it in a way that doesn’t just apply to humans. And if we can’t do it in a way that applies to life on earth, how could we possibly hope to measure the intelligence of alien life?

Instead, we should find a common basis. Fundamentally, intelligence is about solving problems. Energy, space, time are limited. So what’s the best way to make use these limited resources and gain an advantage over others? That’s what intelligence is.

Sociality

Humanity would not have come as far as it did if we hadn’t been social creatures. Building communities, advancing technology, none of it would have happened if we weren’t social animals. When applying the question of sociality to alien life there’s three things important to consider: Firstly, why do animals live in groups and what makes them actively participate? Secondly, which conditions will lead to cooperative societies and which might prevent them? And thirdly, what are the expected outcomes and consequences of this?

Information

We have talked about communication itself, but it’s also important to consider what kind of information lifeforms share and how much of it. Life or death can turn on the right or wrong piece of information for an animal; it’s a key factor in natural selection. Acquiring and transferring information, be it reliably or deceptively can be key to survival.

Language

Language is what separates us humans from animals. Every other feature like tools, culture, emotions, planning, even humour we share, but language is sole to us. Language allows us to glimpse into the minds of other people in a way we will never achieve with animals. It also shapes the way we think and makes us who we are. It drives and enables our ability to cooperate.

Language can’t be clearly defined, however. It has no clear-cut characteristics. We don’t even know whether language is an ability that a particular species either has or doesn’t have, or if some have more than others. We don’t know if language is a single thing or a structure shared by every civilization. Or maybe just an ability, a functionality, which could be implemented in any kind of way.

To understand what alien language could be like, first we must ask ourselves what language is on Earth. And whether this is how language must be everywhere else in the universe. Or if an alien language would be totally incomprehensible to us.

Biological Laws – What rules does all life abide by?

  1. Complex life evolves by natural selection.
  2. Adaptions happen for a reason and serve a specific purpose. Usually these purposes are finding food, avoiding becoming food, and reproducing.
  3. Organisms need to move to find food and avoid becoming someone else’s food.
  4. Senses are necessary to take in the world but also to communicate with other members of the species.
  5. The ability to solve problems is fundamental to life.
  6. Life thrives in social communities.
  7. Information is key, in every ecosystem, on every planet.
  8. Language allows for complex communication and is a sign of civilisation.

Sources

  • Kershenbaum, Arik: The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy. What Animals on Earth Reveal About Aliens – and Ourselves. UK u.a.: Penguin Books 2020 [E-Book]