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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Fanclub EU Alien Diversity Appreciation Thread

Discussion in 'EU Community' started by gizkaspice, Dec 8, 2013.

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  1. Mitth_Fisto

    Mitth_Fisto Chosen One star 6

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    Sep 29, 2005
    Well I think you have a nice idea going here Gizka ;)
     
  2. gizkaspice

    gizkaspice Force Ghost star 4

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    Nov 27, 2013
    .....and how did this start again? :p
     
  3. Mitth_Fisto

    Mitth_Fisto Chosen One star 6

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    Sep 29, 2005
    Join or be eaten? I don't know, something like that :p
     
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  4. gizkaspice

    gizkaspice Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 27, 2013
    Is that how Rakatan politics work?

    Join or be eaten?

    Makes sense.

    :p
     
  5. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    Of the non-humans we know some things about, which one would people like to see a have a new culture because they are from a different world?
     
  6. gizkaspice

    gizkaspice Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 27, 2013
    Can you clarify that? Do you mean the aliens that already have a culture but should have a new culture?


    I noticed mostly this place has been "post an alien" "post next alien" etc with the occasion discussion---

    Anyone have some suggestions to make this place more interesting?
    maybe...

    1) talking about aliens more in depth--mentioning where they are from in EU, etc?
    2) asking questions about anything regarding aliens--yes, anything
    3) role play?
    also, what about discussing alien characters from EU?

    anything else?
    we need more ppl posting here....
     
  7. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    More or less: Yes.
    Every time a human come from another planet or part of space they have a new culture but non-humans: they mostly share the same culture (or are part of space culture) no matter were they come from
     
  8. gizkaspice

    gizkaspice Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 27, 2013
    you mean mono-cultural aliens?
    I would like aliens to have more languages they speak, more different beliefs, cultures etc, on different planets but also on their homeplanet.
    for example, Selkath are generally "peaceful", but then we get bounty hunter Selkath in TCW--so this breaks the one-culture stereotype a bit
     
  9. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    No it dose not. It only shows that one Selkath don't follow the stereotype. If we saw a whole city block or more of Selkath acting like him than we can begin to talk.
    Also do we know how Selkaths culture and society look like in the “modern” age?
     
  10. Mitth_Fisto

    Mitth_Fisto Chosen One star 6

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    Sep 29, 2005
    Good point, after a few thousand years and losing their place as the prime medical salve dealers in the galaxy to bacta, well it is easy to be peaceful when your coffers are full, how peaceful are you when they are empty? Now that is a good question.
     
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  11. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    So what non-humans do people want to be cultural divers?
     
  12. Mitth_Fisto

    Mitth_Fisto Chosen One star 6

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    Sep 29, 2005
    Don't worry I don't want too much. . .just about 70% of them ;)
     
  13. gizkaspice

    gizkaspice Force Ghost star 4

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    Nov 27, 2013
    Most species are in need of being culturally diverse.....it's hard to pick.....don't know many species that are culturally diverse...
    though IMO Rakata may be, esp. "modern" age Rakata who live on planets in the Rakatan Archipelago--some are enlightened, others wage war, most dissect slaves, and there are some outposts where they play with nuclear weapons.

    and maybe some of them dance in hula skirts
    :p
     
  14. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    That's why I originally wrote "Of the non-humans we know some things about" to make it easier to pick one
     
  15. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    Among the races that we know something about I can just now think of wookies, mon calamarians, rodians and the yuuzhan vong
    Then there is also the twi'leks that have been shown to have more then one culture, thanks to tCW.

    So if we picked one of them to have a new culture should it be something completely different from the standard or a variation on the original theme?
     
  16. gizkaspice

    gizkaspice Force Ghost star 4

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    Nov 27, 2013
    well, what species out of them would you like to have a new culture? and how would it be different from what they already have?
     
  17. Mitth_Fisto

    Mitth_Fisto Chosen One star 6

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    Sep 29, 2005
    With Mon Cal's and Wooks I would imagine a variation.Like a Mon Cal group that didn't return to seeing a more peaceful way of living could be living somewhere, or a group that is more land bound than their aquatic cousins and creating something less fluid for culture or architecture. Wooks, who knows, but I seriously cannot see them as pacifists, but maybe a group that didn't revere the forest? Living with edgy tech without the Worshyrr trees?

    As for Rodians I remember there was an issue where a group tried going the peaceful route but the war mongers put out a contract and basically exterminated the divergent culture. So, they are not very tolerant of their own kind having a different point of view.

    Yuuzhan Vong? Kinda similar to the Rodians originally, I would guess they would be breaking up with some techies as the latest supplements had hinted, and maybe a domination of the religion by some shamed with Ganner as a major deity. Talk about putting the Jedi on a pedistool! (I haven't read the comics so no real good knowledge of what they are like culturally during those times)
     
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  18. gizkaspice

    gizkaspice Force Ghost star 4

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    Nov 27, 2013
    Also wanted to mention, in the Unknown regions there are some Wookiee slaves that are hairless due to genetic issues..although not sure if this is another "culture"...I guess it could become one esp. if Wookiees consider fur important.
     
  19. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    Well, I admit that I know the wookies best so I use them as an example. First what can we say are important/notable points of wookie culture/society: they are forest-worlders with a high or on a standard (depending on how you see it) level of technology; seems to live in a balance with nature and blend it with their technology; a big part of them live high up in the trees and associate the ground with danger; they take pride in their martial power but don't seem to be warlike and many of them take honour seriously.
    I would say that one of the easiest way to change their culture would be to take a way the high trees, so a world with no/few/only short trees; then we will have to ask how they adapted to this world. Maybe by building all their homes in the mountains or creating skyscrapers or maybe all their cities are flying? Another idea is that they instead adept to this new world by becoming semi nomadic farmers-pastoralists-hunters with just some cities that produce high technology - living like many afrikan and indians of old. This would probably be best in an time/area were space travel were unreliable and they could not relay on import from the outside.
    Another way to show a different culture could be one that hade fully embraced the warrior culture and preferred technology over nature. The problem here would be to differ them from other high-tech warrior societies.
    There is also the idea of having them colonize a world that is not liveable for them without technology. Ex. a water-world, one with poisonous atmosphere or maybe a dead planet. Here they would have to chose on technology over nature, but at the same time nature would probably be highly important in the form of oxygen-factories and farms to feed them – it could be that those wookies reveres nature even more than the normal group because it is so important for their survival and there is so little of it on their new home world.

    If they are in the Unknown regions they most have been separated from the main wookie culture for so long that they absolutely count as their own culture
     
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  20. gizkaspice

    gizkaspice Force Ghost star 4

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    Nov 27, 2013
    Gamiel I like the level of detail and inspiration you introduce into your thoughts---esp, the possibility of different Wookiee races. We don't get much in terms of races in different species, but for the mountain Wookiees I wonder if they would be shorter than average wookiees? this kind of world building seems overlooked in most EU----it's interesting to speculate.
     
  21. kecen

    kecen Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 12, 2005
    I would get rid of "all Yuuzhan Vong are masochists with terrible battle strategies" and replace it with just Domain Shai being that way and the general Yuuzhan Vong philosophy being "pain is what motivates life to keep moving forward" - pain tolerance and acceptance of death as a natural phenomena. And also give some side-gods or saints to different Domains - they were once a Galaxy-wide empire, it makes sense they'd have variation.
    And I'd incorporate different colors of Vonduun crab armor and phenotypes/mods specific to certain domains and explain how they treat their women.

    I also wish the Kaleesh could be shown with settled cities and things like telephone wires and satellite relays (useful for catching up on CIS shadowfeed broadcasts about your husband). I doubt a pre-industrial civilization with no large political bodies could fend off a bug invasion and then launch a full-scale invasion. What kind of nation-building was Grievous doing anyways.
    I've always imagined one of their major settlements to be like Safavid Persia - so the women would wear headscarves and fancy gowns instead of the rugged warrior outfits in the Essential Guide to Warfare. The masks shouldn't be universal to Kaleesh because 1) they're only for high-ranking commanders 2) not all cultures on the planet utilized them - they could be considered iconic/standard wear for Khagans later on because Grievous made them popular - or they once standard during the Sith Empire but fell out of use over time. The scene shown in the Eyes of Revolution would be happening in another part of Kalee based on Meso-American cultures - the mish-mash of cultures in the comic would be because Grievous was so loved on his home planet, even a place that he didn't consider his homeland wished him luck and let him fuel his shuttle. His elite were also chosen to reflect different cultures to give off the image of a unified front.
    And it's always struck me as odd that these alien races have one definitive language that's used across their home planet - I would like to see more communication barriers due to different languages being spoken on the same planet. The Kolkpravis would have a "standard" language that's used across the planet, of course.
     
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  22. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

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    Sep 2, 2012
    I think the Round Robin interview in The Unifying Force said that this was basically how it's supposed to be.
     
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  23. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    Thanks :) I do world building as a hobby and have actually a tendency to overthink things. The down side is that sometime you read about worlds that the author (or the editor who cut the material) did not give enough thoughts to and can not stop trying to make them better or more diverse. To me WotC's Coruscant and the Core Worlds is full of that kind of badly created/described planets; and to many worlds with a human majority!:mad:
    Also why did they feel the need to create a new race of near-humans who are amphibians to have as "natives" on Velusia? There already exist many non-human species that are amphibians, why not use one of them?


    To continue on the cultural diversity discussion: One excellent way to show a new/different culture is to have its members dress differently than the previous seen. F.ex. if the wookies from the Greendale district of Coruscant (I made that district up so no need to look it up) were shown to near-all be dress in flower patterned kilts it would show that they were different from their kin on Kashyyyk. This work best when you use a visual media (like comics, TV or movies) and I am a bit disappointed that so few actually use it; to many non-humans either look like they did in the movie or is given the spacer-look.




    EDIT: Also, some interesting points on nemoidian culture by Revanfan1
    followed by some comments by Barriss_Coffee
    Any thoughts?
     
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  24. Pearlsaber

    Pearlsaber Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 29, 2013
    Very cool topic, if I say so myself. I know this may be breaking the non-human-looking rule, but the Ryn are becoming a favorite for me as I read Agents of Chaos I for the first time. I find their wit and physical characteristics fascinating.

    [​IMG]
     
  25. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    I have somehow fallen in love with the Ryn even if I find them mirroring the romain, who were their main inspiration, a bit To much. In my head I am turning them, or at least the way they dress into something Cossack like
    [​IMG]
     
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