• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

Species Application - Theradectans

Acewing13

Acewing13

GM
Wiki Moderator
Technically already in RP, but need to get them on the wiki. Will be working on the society stuff, including their magitech, in the coming weeks, cause I need to get that done for the next phase of Outremer. The docs are view only, so don't worry about breaking anything. XD

docs.google.com

Theradectans

docs.google.com docs.google.com
docs.google.com

Theradectan Silk Production

Theradectan Silk Production [H=2]Physical Properties[/H] The trademark ability of the Theradectan species is their ability to create webs of silk, which they use for various purposes. They use spinnerets, pipe shaped structures located in their abdomen, that they use to produce the silk. The tip...
docs.google.com docs.google.com
 

Consider this when writing up Theradectan culture, their ideals. How would easily traversal over mountains, trees, and through caves affect their outlooks? How does the relative lack of use of plains make them different from humans? Otherwise we've looked over this before and it's adequate.

My questions are primarily that of FTL and magic. What tech level are the Theradectans on? What stopped them from approaching Earth or the humans sooner? How do they utilize magic?
 
Worked on the skeleton of how their magic works within their society. Kinda took what I liked from both Cadet and KB's systems and smushed them together. Will continue to work on specifying it for the future.


To answer half of question 1 and 3, their FTL requires travel between nodes, so since there aren't really any nearby Earth, they haven't come across them. for 2, kinda want to put them nearish future tech, but on a big scale cause they have a lot of 'man'power to throw at problems. Probably with a dieselpunk aesthetic, cause fun.

Really need to get a culture article sorted out, but that's going to take forever to do beyond a basic outline. XD

Edit: should I put a list of their gods on the magic page, since they play a part in their magic system, in their culture page, or both?
 
I think it would be easier for us to visualize their tech level if you related it to humans.

Instead of Diselpunk, 1950s/1960s humanity might work better. If you're doing near-future are we talking like modern-day technology levels? Or only stuff that could conceivably be built with modern stuff if given enough time?
 
If you want future stuff, it's better if you describe the technology in relation to human technologies. Fusion engines and the like.
 
Looking at the species page itself, I noted a few things that could use some changing.
  • Evolutionary Background should be moved into their history article
  • Psychology should be its own article
  • Eyes should be separated from Nervous System
  • Exoskeleton should not be flexible
  • Book lungs aren't good enough for the size unless ultra-high O2 concentration
  • Sensing and Communicating Systems should be renamed to Sensory and Communication Bristles
The article is primarily focused on the species' physiology, and this is something that should or can be expanded on in a proper history article. Having it here ultimately does less for the species overall, and the same goes for Psychology. It too should have its own stand-alone article, since their way of thinking is going to potentially be very different from ours, especially due to any possible focus or fixation on patterns. Meanwhile, the Eyes should be separated from the Nervous System section into its own sub-section. The eyes are a meaty enough topic to have its own area, since we're going to need to know what spectrum of light they see in, if they see in color, if they are particularly good at seeing things far away or close up, and so forth.

As for the Exoskeleton, my guess is that you want them to be mobile, but having a flexible exoskeleton is not the way to go, since the human equivalent would be something like bending your forearm into a U-shape and bruising all the soft tissue in the process. An exoskeleton focuses on rigidity to provide protection, especially the larger something gets. Small stuff can cheat and have softer exoskeletons. If you want them to be swift, their flexibility would come from their joint mobility. Meanwhile, the book lungs are not efficient at larger sizes, and the only way to compensate is to crank up the O2 content of the air, at which point you also have a major fire hazard. I don't know if you want to have flamethrowers be the weapon of choice against them, but if so, I would leave this as-is. If not, a more efficient lung with some sort of active pumping mechanism is needed. Finally, having Bristles in the name is more concise and to the point. The reader knows what does the sensing and the talking by reading the sub-section title.

I haven't gotten to the rest of it yet, but I hope this feedback helps.
 
I've continued looking over this, starting with the silk production, and I note that it's too many things relating to the silk all at once. I would suggest having the strict facts regarding the biology and silk details in the species page itself. Meanwhile, the other details pertaining to its cultural significance and how it is used be moved over into the culture article or a sub-article considering just how important that this would be for this people. As for the magic, I would advise some level of caution since we haven't settled onto one system or anther. We're still stuck between the two and haven't settled on one, and it's the most limiting factor right now.
 
So, going over some of the suggestions, one of my main questions is what's the point of a species page? I obviously get why you need one, describing the species appearance at the very least. But looking at the dàqínrén and the grawla pages, they're very different in how they handle this. Kinda want to know what the guideline/standard is before I start moving stuff around, so I don't have to keep doing it every time I do an edit. XD

I specifically addressed the book lung/02 problem in the evolutionary background. 'Theradectans owe their size to the light gravity, high levels of oxygen, and their heartstones of their homeworld Atos, which allows the relatively weak joints of their exoskeleton to be able to hold their weight and their relatively inefficient book lungs to provide oxygen to their bodies. Even with these variables supporting them, the primitive Theradectan had to worry about falling from any significant (10+ ft) height, quick-starting forest and prairie fires from the high oxygen level of their atmosphere...'

I'll think over the exoskeleton stuff, cause they do move around by pumping blood around, so I think there has to be some kind of flexibility for the hydraulics to work.

Tech-wise, really depends on how their magic works, to be honest. My main play things I want to write about are the kind of space infrastructure you'd build when you're a carnivore species that needs a lot of room for your 'cattle' and their feed. And big ships with magic space lasers. :D
 
I would be careful about making the Theradectans' very existence depend on heartstones, unless you purposefully want them to be a fragile species outside of areas of magic.

Why does the flexibility of the exoskeleton influence the effectiveness of the respiratory system?

Here are some sources:
worldbuilding.stackexchange.com

How to have people and big bugs at the same time

There's been a few questions about making big bugs before and the consensus in they can't get much bigger than 3ft or so (which in reality is still huge). Catch is, you need quite a bit of extra ox...
worldbuilding.stackexchange.com worldbuilding.stackexchange.com

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/9cntzp/_/e5bzi4a

worldbuilding.stackexchange.com

Giant Insects Made Plausible - Nymph Gills to Pseudo Lungs

I've had a great idea to leap over the giant boundary of respiration when making giant insects.The largest problem is that insects rely on diffusion through exterior holes (spiracles) to breathe, a...
worldbuilding.stackexchange.com worldbuilding.stackexchange.com

My suggestion is to have some sort of active circulatory system. Deployable lungs sounds like too much of an infection hazard, so maybe try the gill route where air is drawn into vents in the carapace? Couple that with the high oxygen content and I think you'll have a solid respiratory and circulatory system.
 
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For the daqinren and the Grawla, I think their wiki pages lack the same scrutiny because they're reasonably sized, vertebrated humanoids. A lot of things that hold true for humans can be assumed to hold true for them as well.

en.m.wikipedia.org

Human - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org

I have mixed opinions on the necessity of multiple articles. Wikipedia has main articles for various categories in part due to the extent of the data. I don't think there's enough content here to warrant that.
 
The main reason I have for not changing how their circulatory system works, and maybe their exoskeleton, is because it then messes with how they move their legs. They're supposed to work like Earth spiders, who extend their legs based on hydraulic pressure from their blood. It's why their movement looks so foreign. I assume that I could harden the exoskeleton to some extent, but idk if that'd then make the hydraulic pressure less viable. Maybe just having giant arteries and veins going down their legs would work?

asknature.org

Leg Uses Hydraulics and Muscle Flex — Biological Strategy — AskNature

The legs of spiders move using a combination of the hydraulic pressure of body fluid and muscle flex.
asknature.org asknature.org

Looking at the whole mess, I think I could move all the cultural stuff out of the main biology pages and combine them together so technically the 'species' page is just one page, then just use the culture stuff to start the big history/culture page that will follow.
 
Maybe you can make their lymphatic system a core part of their locomotion. So have them have a relatively weaker circulatory system but a stronger immune system, as a result of needing larger gills or book lungs that invite more infections. In humans the lymphatic system is relatively invisible and poorly understood.
en.wikipedia.org

Lymphatic system - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
It's definitely looking better now that the culture stuff is moved out. The article feels a lot more focused. As for the exoskeleton, they're generally hard, and have flexibility in key locations such as joints instead. It's not all that different from crabs, which if I remember correctly, also have book lungs. If you want to stick with that, and have their home planet be very high-oxygen, that'd work out just fine. Ray's idea of using the lymphatic system and a secondary heart-like pump could definitely work out too. Given the increased size, having the more efficient closed circulatory system should work out.
 
edited some stuff about the exoskeleton and changed the lungs, blood vessels, and specified how the leg hydraulics work.
 
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