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Generic Space Opera Bestiary: Space Dog
"It's not an animated movie without a thing that's not a dog acting like a dog."– Producer, Onward Pitch Meeting, via TV Tropes Dogs are probably the most singularly defining “animal” for most people....
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Generic Space Opera Bestiary: Space Snek!
“Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?” – Indiana Jones Alright, let’s do something a little bit different. See, I love snakes. I think they’re great enemies to throw at people and rich with...
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Generic Space Opera Bestiary: Space Crabs!
Have you heard of “Carcinization?” The tendency of nature to evolve things into crabs” – XKCDOf course, carcinization is more than just a meme designed to give us memes of crabs rocking out to sweet...
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Generic Space Opera Bestiary: Space Pigs
Generic Alien PigHomer: Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Lisa, honey, are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?Lisa: No.Homer: Ham?Lisa: No.Homer: Pork...
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Generic Space Opera Bestiary: Space Cows
I think few animals better exemplify the countryside than the cow. That may well be because the culture from which westerners descend, Indo-European culture, was heavily integrated with the cow. But...
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Generic Space Opera Bestiary: Space Deer
Deer seem to be thegeneric “hunting prey.” If a story depicts a character hunting an animal that animal is probably a deer, especially if we expand our understanding of deer to include any swift,...
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Wiki Update: Dreamy Assassins
It's not all been Fun and Space Bestiaries at Mailanka's Musings; I still have a wiki to run, after all, and promises to fulfill to backers. So I wanted to take a moment to quickly highlight a couple...
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Generic Space Opera Bestiary: Space Horse
I think the only animal remotely competitive with a dog or cat for popular, intuitive understanding is the horse. Most people have been near one at at least one point in their life, and many have...
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Generic Space Opera: Space Bear
The bear tends to feature strongly in the mythology of any culture that experiences them. This seems, in part, to extend from their enormous size paired with their ability to stand on hind legs and...
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Generic Space Opera Bestiary: the Space Tiger
We’ve already covered the cat, and what is a tiger but a scaled-up cat? Well, the biggest difference is that, unless you’re a mouse, a cat isn’t terrifying. The tiger is the posterchild for apex...
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Generic Space Opera Bestiary: Space Shark
Most of my focus has been on creatures of the land for a few reasons. People deal with land creatures on a regular basis, and the sea is “alien” to them, so while it makes great inspiration for...
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Generic Space Opera Bestiary: Space Vulture
I haven’t touched on birds for awhile, and doubtless, some people might wonder why not falcons? Or why not parrots, etc. Why vultures? Well, as noted previously, what I’m looking for are mostly the...
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Generic Space Opera Bestiary: Space Elephant
Elephants are inevitable. Space Opera is all about fighting giant space monsters, so naturally we’re fascinated by the largest land animal currently alive: The elephant. Of course, by space opera...
View ArticleThe Zero Template Race Challenge
...(A race) which has culture and “common advantages/disadvantages” and maybe unique technology…but without having a template at all. That would also solve the weird situation with humans being the...
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The Zero-Template Challenge: The Karkadann, the Withering Satraps of the...
The Karkadann are among the oldest aliens known among the Arkhaian reaches, and for a time, were considered by archaeologists to be a candidate for the progenitor of the lost "Monolith" civilization...
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The Zero-Template Challenge: The Vithani, the Star-Children of the Umbral Fringe
Few humans have even heard of the Vithani, and fewer still have laid eyes upon a Vithani slave, much less enjoyed their company. The brutal slavers of the Umbral Rim covet them, but since the Dark...
View ArticleThe Zero-Template Challenge: The Herne, the Forest-Walkers
Rumors and whispers had long swirled through the colonist population of Arcadius that the world was inhabited. Finally, when Sovereign fell, the Herne revealed themselves and spoke in flawless Galactic...
View ArticleThe Zero-Template Challenge: The Rejects
No, this isn't about a race called "the Rejects." I came up with a bunch of races that didn't make the cut because I couldn't quite make them work. I thought I'd lay them out and discuss some of the...
View ArticleA Zero-Template Retrospective
And that's it for my Zero-Template Challenge. I hope you liked it, but judging from the comments and the responses on my discord, you did.Let's touch on the specific races.KarkadannThey seem good, a...
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On the Importance of Factions
I've recently dropped a poll for the first of the Westerly Clan (and it might be a mistake, as I seem to have triggered analysis paralysis among my backers, but if you're a backer, go check it out. In...
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