#alien specbio

[ahamkara-apologist]

Saw a leachianus gecko and went 'holy shit that's a dog' and then promptly after went 'holy shit what if Eliksni dogs looked like this. Wait wait wait. What if they looked like this but with ISOPOD features'. This was a thought that I nearly immediately had to make a reality, bc how couldn't I. Also I'm learning CSP and this was the perfect excuse to play around with brushes

I deliberately made them look like the Eliksni to make it seem like they shared a common ancestor, much like humans and wolves do on Earth. I figured that the rule of 'if it looks like our babies, we'll love it' extends outside of our species as well, as it's just the most evolutionary sound way of dealing with things when your kids require a ridiculous amount of parental care. As for colours, I just went for the default Eliksni tones, but I'm sure these fellas came in a huge variety of colours pre-Whirlwind, with all sorts of breeds and morphs made by selective breeders and eco-splicers for various purposes

[ahamkara-apologist]

Eliksni Expression Headcanons

Done mostly for fun bc why not! This is based heavily on horse and parrot facial expressions in terms of eye tightness/squinting/mouth opening. The bristles refer to the mandibular ones mentioned in the Exuviae lore tab; vocalizations are more speculative and highly variable bc they seem to have a variety of chitters and subvocalizations that are very generalized, much like human laughter and hums. References to carapace plates on the back of the neck are for my own Eliksni design (where they have more plating protecting the spine) and can be disregarded to those who are uninterested in using it

...

Smile: eyes squinted with the skin around them soft, nictitating membranes half-drawn (like sleepy cats). Mandibles slack and relaxed, bristles not on end

Accompying vocalization: depending on mood, usually a purr or a soft, burbly chitter/trill, with a low, thrumming subvocalization. On larger Eliksni, this is a deep rumble that can be felt humming through the human body

Smirk: all of the same as a smile, but with tight, rigid mandibles (either fully closed or slightly flared) and more open eyes. Flaring the mandibles slightly would be seen as a shit-eating grin, closed mandibles is more cheeky amusement

Accompying vocalization: either a low, slow clicking subvocalization, or silence

Fear: Eyes huge, the skin around them taught. Mandibles bared and shivering in a ready position, bristles on end, carapace plates on back of the neck and shoulders folded down. Scent/preen glands take on a stress odor to indicate other Eliksni of danger

Accompying vocalization: Tight, high trills and chitters if not completely silent, a low, humming buzz for subvocalizations, almost like a bee's wings but just barely out of human hearing level. When deeply frightened, sharp, dual-tone shrieks occur

Anger: mandibles and teeth fully bared, skin around eyes taught, eyes can be wide open or narrowed depending on how wide the mouth is held or if the Eliksni is ready to fight (open eyes = more ready for a fight, if they are about to bite, the nictitating membranes will flick over the lower eyes to protect from bloodsplatter). Bristles on end, as well as chitin plates on the neck and shoulders, making them look bigger and more intimidating

Accompying vocalization: Highly variable, ranging from slower, sharper chitters and hisses to angry barks to deep, furious roars. Subvocalization: fast, rhythmic tolling, sometimes revving up to a furious low buzz

Submission/guilt: Eyes wide, the skin under them taught, holding the gaze of whoever they're submitting to in order to indicate attention/that they respect them and fear them, mandibles fully drawn up and shivering slightly, bristles flat. Young Eliksni chatter-snap their mandibles while cheeping to indicate that they're young and don't mean to cause offense, which adults only do if they're extremely scared or deliberately trying to unnerve/snark back to someone. Head usually held low with shoulders hunched

Accompying vocalization: Upper auditory ranges silent or utilizing a soft cheep (if pre-reproductive phase Eliksni), subvocalizations limited to very quiet hums if agreeing with dominant Eliksni's terms

Dominance/pride: Eyes narrowed and hard, pointedly looking away or offering only quick glances to submissives, head tilted up to bare throat, mandibles closed but flared out to show teeth. Bristles in a neutral state, as is chitin on back of neck. Openly scents the air or other Eliksni. Staring at someone is specifically a challenge, with the expectation being to either fight or to maintain eye contact and begin submissive posturing. Breaking eye contact after prolongued staring is usually a dismissive, rude gesture, indicating that they don't believe their enemy is dangerous enough to continue observing. Scent/preen glands more active

Accompying vocalization: Hissing (if challenged), deep roars. Subvocalization the same as anger, but often more of a low purr, like an engine growling

Irritation: Eyes narrowed and hard, mandibles taught with a little bit of teeth showing, bristles flared. Often paired with a head toss, the Eliksni equivalent of rolling one's eyes

Accompying vocalization: Silence to irate chittering, subvocalization is tolling (canon). Hissing also occurs

Contentment: eyes narrowed, the skin around them relaxed. Jaw closed or loosely open, with mandibles slack. Bristles in a neutral position, nictitating membranes visible at the corner of the eyes but not drawn up like in a smile

Accompying vocalization: Low hums, purrs, chirps, and trills. Subvocalizations always a low, buzzing purr

Courting/aroused: same as contentment, but with the mouth deliberately open for scenting purposes, and mandibles drawn away in show while remaining relaxed and loose. Eyes can be more open/tense depending on the mood. Head usually held high and at an angle to bare throat, chitin on back of neck slightly raised, skin on neck, face, and lower abdomen flushing a darker, richer shade to show off patterning- less like blushing, and more like firing up in reptiles. Scent/preen glands more active

Accompying vocalization: Rich low purr, paired with a deep, rumbling subvocalization. Creates an almost dual-toned, humming 'song' to court potential partners

Sorrow/pain: squinted/closed, hard eyes with bottom eyelid drawn further up over the orbit than the top, mandibles shivering, slightly flared, and held taught. Nictitating membranes almost or fully drawn over the eye. Bristles flat, head usually dipped down closer to the chest. Scent/preen glands take on a fear/stress odor to warn other Eliksni of danger

Accompying vocalizations: High-pitched, undulating keening and low warbling, shrieks if pain or fear is really bad. Hard, rapid clicking for subvocalizations

Surprise/curiosity/trying to look innocent: eyes huge but soft, mandibles tight and faintly flared, showing teeth. Bristles and chitin plates half-puffed up. Usually accompanied with a few head tilts and head bobs to elicit better hearing, and the mouth opening further to allow scenting.

Accompying vocalizations: Trills, chitters, and hums, a buzz-click buzz-click subvocalization that is pretty much the Eliksni verbal equivalent of a question mark, the speed of which indicates the intensity of the individual's mood

[ahamkara-apologist]

finally got the chance to draw so I kinda went ham with drawing up a headcanon sheet for the Eliksni, in which I blatantly disregarded the canon skintones and just had fun (i don't really enjoy how pink they are in canon personally- I think they should have more natural colour variation)

Some notes:

-The freckles on Eramis and Variks are just freckles, they're not due to age. As for the alarming amount of minor scratches scarred into Eramis's neck and, to an extent, Misraaks- those are marks from hatchling claws! They're traditionally considered marks of beauty and wisdom in Eliksni society. Eramis has many to mirror her many litters, while Misraaks only has a couple from Eido

-I drew everyone but Taniks bald because I drew Taniks first and then realized later that it kinda obscured my hcs for their individual head shapes, so their setae is on the bottom. Setae is someting that only fully sexually mature adults develop, and is much closer in texture to a horse's mane than human hair. It also runs all the way down the back of their neck, much like a mane, and in some cases (like Taniks) has barbs or hooks along its strands so that ornaments can be woven into it, which is inspiration that I took from decorator crabs

-Eramis's facial scars were given to her by a Guardian at Twilight Gap, and are deep enough that they cut into her nasal cavity. Luckily, it's right near the nostrils anyways so she isn't impacted too bad, but she does have to be careful about keeping it clear of debris. Deep in her eye sockets, she's also had some electrodes installed that link to sensors in her helmet and give her little buzzes/shocks whenever something passes in front of it to help compensate for being half-blind, but it's a pretty crude device that doesn't work all that well on small objects

-Each Eliksni's ethnicity is written below their names, which is why Eido has a question mark. She's a mixed kid- try to guess which Houses her parents might have been from ::3

-The horns/shoulder spines were extra spikes of mineralized chitin that were common on adults in Riis, and were traits that were lost during the Drift. They often were calcium/mineral stores used to show age and fitness, but since resources in Sol are scarce, they no longer grow during molts. Riisborn Eliksni still have horn nubs, but that's about it

-As for the sexual dimorphism thing: that's more just me musing about how slight it would be with my hcs about their reproduction (which involves females laying fertilized eggs into a specialized broodpouch in the male, who then builds on their yolk supply and gives them the calcium needed to form eggshells, and thus needs to be bigger). When given actual Eliksni with a natural range of bodily variation, it would be near-impossible to distinguish them

[ahamkara-apologist]

Vesper's Host is kicking my ass but the new lore tabs on Eliksni bristles had me thinkin about their placement

I have thoughts about the antennae thing in the loretabs (basically, I think that unless chemosensory utilities show up in later loretabs, they got their arthropod appendages mixed up- not that I can blame them with how many different names there are for the same things), but I do like the bristle thing, as I'm a bug guy at heart. I figured that they're small and mostly used for assistance in sensing movement next to the mandibles that their vision might not cover very well, kind of like how whiskers on the elbows of cats help them keep track of where their legs go

[ahamkara-apologist]

had a brainwave last night about how awful the alien dildo designs must have been pre-friendly contact in the Last City and just had to draw it for...reasons

(as a biologist, drawing the left image physically hurt me. so now i must inflict it all on you too)

[ahamkara-apologist]

[Jerks upright] VIVIPAROUS SCIONS THAT SECRETE A LIPID-DENSE SUBSTANCE FROM SPECIALIZED SKIN PLANES FOR THEIR YOUNG LIKE PLATYPUS (THEY ARE NON-PLACENTAL AND THE 'MILK' IS ALMOST WAXY IN NATURE)

[ahamkara-apologist]

okay fuck it im having trouble deciding. poll time

Should female Uluru have:

A pseudopenis in the sense of a bigass clitoris (no birth canal running through)

A pseudopenis like what hyenas have (birth canal running through it)

Voting ended onNov 17, 2023

Either would be a lot of fun/alien enough to be cool imo, but I'm indecisive. Currently leaning towards pseudopenis similar to what hyenas are packing simply bc it runs the risk of making birth actually painful and I can totally see Uluru society viewing it as a spiritual battle of sorts, with the procurement of the fetal calves to the male for nursing being ritualized extensively because of it

[ahamkara-apologist]

Number 4 pls

4. What general Spicy Headcanons do you have?

-Adding on to what I've already detailed about the Eliksni, here's something I forgot to mention about their heat cycles: they come in two phases. Assuming reproductive sex is occurring between a male-phase and a female-phase individual, part 1 involves the male inducing ovulation and providing the sperm for the female's use, and then there's a lull for ovulation + development until phase two, where the fertilized eggs are then deposited in the male's broodpouch. The lull itself varies in length between individuals, but it's usually utilized as a rest and recovery phase until part two, and can be delayed if conditions take a turn for the worse. Because the Eliksni only come into season once every few years (excepting if they're a kell or have access to a lot of ether, in which case its a few times a year), this is usually far more manageable than it sounds. Phase 2 can also sometimes trigger twice in males if the eggs they received get shed before their hormones fully flush from their system; if it doesn't come around again after an egging session, that's a very good indicator that they're sticking to the wall of the broodpouch and will be carried to term

Also, they're capable of voluntarily popping an erection/keeping it up even if they aren't aroused, but I'm still trying to figure out how I want that to work, be it from ligament tightening, an internal carapace spine, or muscle control. Just for funsies

Hornyween ask game