It's time for your post Epic Week writing challenge!
This May, we met a hostile alien race know as the Xenobeasts. This species had several interrelated forms, and we got tiny insights into their physiology, aims, and language. But there's so much that remains unexplained...
You have 1200 words to flesh out the design of this Xenobeast race. Things you might describe:
Criteria
Entries will be judged based on the following criteria:
Deadline
All entries must be submitted by June 25th.
Prizes
Loki will be running this contest.
This May, we met a hostile alien race know as the Xenobeasts. This species had several interrelated forms, and we got tiny insights into their physiology, aims, and language. But there's so much that remains unexplained...
You have 1200 words to flesh out the design of this Xenobeast race. Things you might describe:
- What is their home world like? What influenced their evolution into the form we know today? What do they eat?
- What is their culture like? Do they have art? Customs? Castes? Important historical events we need to know about?
- How did they come by their technology?
- What causes them to come to places like the RPR and attempt to conquer?
- Where do rarer forms like the Sarpedon and the Triarii come from?
- What are the limits of the Imperial's apparent ability to bend space and time? How are these abilities powered?
Criteria
Entries will be judged based on the following criteria:
- Plausibility: This is playful sci-fi, but it's not totally random! At a minimum, your fiction should be consistent with its own rules.
- Attention to detail - how well does your head canon fit with the already known information? It should not contradict what we already know.
- Creativity
- Interest
- Basic proof-reading is required: There are some points for spelling and grammar!
Deadline
All entries must be submitted by June 25th.
Prizes
- A real life RPR tote bag full of prizes and treats!
- A wand of epicness
- A dragon's tooth
- A walrus with your choice of walrus costume (Pearls, Monocle or Mech suit)
Here's what we already know about the alien race
Larval Xenobeast
Average height: 12" - 16"
Average weight: 50 lbs
The infant form of all Xenobeasts. Though they start small, they grow extremely rapidly. By the time they reach 16" or larger, they have usually begun to exhibit traits of their next form.
Squid-like in appearance, their body is a small head and tentacles beneath a larger mantle. The mantle contains most of their essential organs, but the bulk of it is occupied by a fluid sack containing nutrients and proteins that they need to rapidly grow - almost like an egg, but contained internally in an independent animal.
"Noisy Cricket" Xenobeast
Average height: 24" - 34"
Average weight: 120 lbs
This seems to be the second stage that the Xenobeasts pass through in their life cycle. Nearly all of the larval aliens will develop into the "noisy cricket" form. During this stage, the hive seems to primarily use them as scouts. And no wonder: they are fast moving, capable of climbing vertical and even inverted surfaces even if they are extremely smooth, and our initial tests indicate that their eyesight is excellent.
They are virtually silent when they move, but when threatened, they emit a high pitched shriek that carries for miles to alert the hive to danger.
During this stage, the fluid-sack that once served to nourish the creature has been converted into a venom-sack, allowing the "Noisy Cricket" to spit a vile poison up to seven feet away.
Basilisk Xenobeast
Average height: 54" - 72"
Average weight: 360 lbs
After an unknown length of time, some "noisy cricket" xenobeasts begin to undergo changes. We don't know what triggers these changes, but they always follow the same pattern:
This stage seems to be responsible for most of the xenobeast's interactions with technology, such as piloting the ships.
At this stage of life, the xenobeast is not as fast as it was as a noisy cricket, nor as tough as it will be should it go on to become a hulk, but is a devastating balance between dexterity and strength backed up by razor-sharp claws.
Hulking Xenobeast
Average height: 64" - 72"
Average weight: 700 lbs
Although for most xenobeasts, basilisk is their final form, a small number go on to become hulking xenobeasts. They lose their tails entirely and complete their transformation to being bipedal. Their exoskeletons thicken into nearly impenetrable armor and their arms grow to nearly the same length as the creature's standing height, giving it formidable reach in combat.
At this stage, the hulking xenobeast gains such fine control of its bioluminescence that it can pulsate in light patterns that interrupt the neurons of the mammalian neo-cortex, causing their opponents to become clumsy, sickly, or confused.
Slow moving, but devastating opponents in combat, the hulking xenobeasts seem to be used to protect locations, assets or even individuals of particular value to the hive.
The Sarpedon
The Triarii
The Imperial Xenobeast
Other info
All the Epic Week comics and videos
The alien system of numbers and letters
Larval XenobeastAverage height: 12" - 16"
Average weight: 50 lbs
The infant form of all Xenobeasts. Though they start small, they grow extremely rapidly. By the time they reach 16" or larger, they have usually begun to exhibit traits of their next form.
Squid-like in appearance, their body is a small head and tentacles beneath a larger mantle. The mantle contains most of their essential organs, but the bulk of it is occupied by a fluid sack containing nutrients and proteins that they need to rapidly grow - almost like an egg, but contained internally in an independent animal.
"Noisy Cricket" XenobeastAverage height: 24" - 34"
Average weight: 120 lbs
This seems to be the second stage that the Xenobeasts pass through in their life cycle. Nearly all of the larval aliens will develop into the "noisy cricket" form. During this stage, the hive seems to primarily use them as scouts. And no wonder: they are fast moving, capable of climbing vertical and even inverted surfaces even if they are extremely smooth, and our initial tests indicate that their eyesight is excellent.
They are virtually silent when they move, but when threatened, they emit a high pitched shriek that carries for miles to alert the hive to danger.
During this stage, the fluid-sack that once served to nourish the creature has been converted into a venom-sack, allowing the "Noisy Cricket" to spit a vile poison up to seven feet away.
Basilisk XenobeastAverage height: 54" - 72"
Average weight: 360 lbs
After an unknown length of time, some "noisy cricket" xenobeasts begin to undergo changes. We don't know what triggers these changes, but they always follow the same pattern:
- The tail begins to shrink, becoming weaker and but more segmented, becoming almost prehensile
- The haunches become more developed, giving the creature the strength to walk on its hind legs roughly 25% of the time
- The front legs begin to grow articulated, allowing the creature to operate machinery.
- It is believed that very rarely, a larval alien may skip the noisy cricket stage and jump directly to the basilisk stage. If true, it is not known what might cause this.
This stage seems to be responsible for most of the xenobeast's interactions with technology, such as piloting the ships.
At this stage of life, the xenobeast is not as fast as it was as a noisy cricket, nor as tough as it will be should it go on to become a hulk, but is a devastating balance between dexterity and strength backed up by razor-sharp claws.
Hulking XenobeastAverage height: 64" - 72"
Average weight: 700 lbs
Although for most xenobeasts, basilisk is their final form, a small number go on to become hulking xenobeasts. They lose their tails entirely and complete their transformation to being bipedal. Their exoskeletons thicken into nearly impenetrable armor and their arms grow to nearly the same length as the creature's standing height, giving it formidable reach in combat.
At this stage, the hulking xenobeast gains such fine control of its bioluminescence that it can pulsate in light patterns that interrupt the neurons of the mammalian neo-cortex, causing their opponents to become clumsy, sickly, or confused.
Slow moving, but devastating opponents in combat, the hulking xenobeasts seem to be used to protect locations, assets or even individuals of particular value to the hive.
The Sarpedon
The Triarii
The Imperial Xenobeast
Other info
All the Epic Week comics and videos
The alien system of numbers and letters
Loki will be running this contest.
In order to submit, would we just post our work here in this forum?
paranoid_party wrote:
In order to submit, would we just post our work here in this forum?
Yup!
Score, this will be great fun Kim~!
Super excited to see what you all come up with!
So is the 1200 words very strict? Somewhere in that area, right? Will points be taken off for being slightly above or over?
And is there just one winner or no?
And is there just one winner or no?
1200 words is the max amount. Myself and my panel of judges will have to read them all so please don't go over this
Okay, that's understandable.
But you didn't answer my second question. If you get enough entries, will there be 2nd/3rd place? You have a good sized list of prizes. I suggest if you get enough entries, 1st place gets 1st pick, etc.
But you didn't answer my second question. If you get enough entries, will there be 2nd/3rd place? You have a good sized list of prizes. I suggest if you get enough entries, 1st place gets 1st pick, etc.
Dragoncat wrote:
Okay, that's understandable.
But you didn't answer my second question. If you get enough entries, will there be 2nd/3rd place? You have a good sized list of prizes. I suggest if you get enough entries, 1st place gets 1st pick, etc.
But you didn't answer my second question. If you get enough entries, will there be 2nd/3rd place? You have a good sized list of prizes. I suggest if you get enough entries, 1st place gets 1st pick, etc.
This is how nearly all RPR contests have worked, this one included. There will be more than one winner.
Do we just post a link to our work here? Honestly I'm completely clueless on how to even create a post for the thing in the actually site... HALP
You post it right on this thread like you just did to ask the question
Okay, cool! Can I write it from the POV of the alien or does it have to be like an informational essay?
Okay, cool! Can I write it from the POV of the alien or does it have to be like an informational essay?
I think writing it from the POV of the aliens would be okay judt be sure to answer all the questions
judt be sure to answer all the questions
Cool! I'll get started
Question: Can we turn in our submissions on the afternoon of the 25th or do we have to do it earlier?
You can turn them in anytime before the 25th. I will probably lock the topic on the morning of the 26th, that way everyone has until midnight on the 25th no matter what timezone they are in
Okay, thanks!
Alright, here's my entry! Since I was at summer camp for a few days, I couldn't write and thus, I ended up writing this whole thing and rewriting it in about 3 hours. Though I tried my best to answer all the prompts, I'm still pretty nervous about submitting this due to it's shortness. Anyways, here it is! Oh, and I have no clue if I collapsed it correctly.
My Entry
The homeworld of the Xenobeasts is a small, jungle-filled planet with no actual name. Being one of the few living species there, they couldn't risk ruining the fragile ecosystem by hunting or eating plants. Thus, they eat crystals found underground, which also powers the bioluminescence of the species as a whole, PLUS the Imperial Xenobeast's abilities. "Noisy Crickets" are usually sent out to find these and bring them to the hive, along with scouting.
After hundreds of years, the Xenobeasts grew bored of their small planet, and after discovering that their food source could be used to create electricity (And they developed their technology), they searched for a world they could move themselves to so they'd have more room.
Just before they were set to conquer, their crystal supply was wiped out almost completely due to multiple Xenobeasts failing to monitor the supply. In a desperate attempt to fix this, the Imperial Xenobeast, president of the species, made the call to find a way to farm the crystals. This succeeded, but now the planet was crowded and the need for space was very real.
And thus, after recovering the crystal supply, the Imperial Xenobeast made the call to go invade the closest realm in order to expand the space the species had. This happened to be the RPR.
The culture of this species is more like a survival of the fittest than anything. Hurt or sick members of the hive are either killed or kicked out. Besides multiple crystal shortages and a very short civil war caused by a shortage, there actually isn't much historical info about the Xenobeasts. They do have frequent scientific discoveries and fairly advanced technology, but otherwise they haven't done much.
Presidents are decided by first a vote by all Xenobeasts and then a fight to the death between popular candidates. The winner of the death match is then the president.
As for the Sarpedon and Triarii and where the heck they're from, they're actually mutated versions of a "Noisy Cricket" and a Hulking Xenobeast, respectively. This is due to a rare genetic mistake that caused them to become the way they are when they reached their respective life stages.
And the Imperial Xenobeast? Yup, their abilities are due to a genetic mistake, as well as the odd appearance. Oh, and as for the Imperial's space/time bending abilities, those are more illusionary than real and are, like I said earlier, powered by the crystals it eats.
And that's the end of my piece of writing.
After hundreds of years, the Xenobeasts grew bored of their small planet, and after discovering that their food source could be used to create electricity (And they developed their technology), they searched for a world they could move themselves to so they'd have more room.
Just before they were set to conquer, their crystal supply was wiped out almost completely due to multiple Xenobeasts failing to monitor the supply. In a desperate attempt to fix this, the Imperial Xenobeast, president of the species, made the call to find a way to farm the crystals. This succeeded, but now the planet was crowded and the need for space was very real.
And thus, after recovering the crystal supply, the Imperial Xenobeast made the call to go invade the closest realm in order to expand the space the species had. This happened to be the RPR.
The culture of this species is more like a survival of the fittest than anything. Hurt or sick members of the hive are either killed or kicked out. Besides multiple crystal shortages and a very short civil war caused by a shortage, there actually isn't much historical info about the Xenobeasts. They do have frequent scientific discoveries and fairly advanced technology, but otherwise they haven't done much.
Presidents are decided by first a vote by all Xenobeasts and then a fight to the death between popular candidates. The winner of the death match is then the president.
As for the Sarpedon and Triarii and where the heck they're from, they're actually mutated versions of a "Noisy Cricket" and a Hulking Xenobeast, respectively. This is due to a rare genetic mistake that caused them to become the way they are when they reached their respective life stages.
And the Imperial Xenobeast? Yup, their abilities are due to a genetic mistake, as well as the odd appearance. Oh, and as for the Imperial's space/time bending abilities, those are more illusionary than real and are, like I said earlier, powered by the crystals it eats.
And that's the end of my piece of writing.
I know I am late to responded but I am a new writer to this site as I have only been on a couple of days. I noticed that there was only one entry and although I don't care if I receive any prizes or anything I would like to try my hand on helping create your Xenobeasts world. Anyway since the topic is not locked I will put my thoughts down...
At the larval stage they will start with the sap of the planet beneath them usually by the base of one of the mountains. Using their tentacles, they press themselves close to the earth and only move when they have drained that spot of all luminescence and nutrience that could be gleaned and stored in their mantle.
Then when they reach the "noisy cricket" stage they have graduated to the need of protein. They start to hunt for small creatures that live near their area. Sometimes when the noisy cricket get about 32" or so they start to eat some of the smaller, weaker Xenobeast from the larval stage. It is the act of consuming a dozen or so of these larva that spark the next change to Basilisk Xenobeast. The only other way to spark the change is if they eat the nutrients that the larva give to the queen(s) and her court.
Now the Basilisk stage comes with a different set of problems. At this stage they need more then protein to sustain them. This is when they need complex set of nutrients that they can not easily find. Harden rock from the surface is the only source of this nutrient that they can find. At the Basilisk stage their metabolism has slowed with their body, so they only must travel to the surface every few weeks in order to glean some of this nutrience.
Very few get to the Hulking stage, because the only way to become this stage is for the Xenobeast to withstand the harsh elements of the surface for 4 or more weeks. Most that attempt such a feat, don't make it back home. For those that do, they no longer need to feed from the surface. They just have to climb one of the mountains to get the nutrients by one of their long arms to penetrate the bottom layer of rock that the mountain peaks touch.
At the noisy cricket stage, the hive uses them as scouts for new land and uses them to find out information about their enemies. They are also the ones that are sent in first in times of war.
Home World:
The Xenobeasts home world is unlike anything that is known to any type of world; there is no sun, no stars and no moons. The only light is from those that are alive on this planet, bioluminescence that glows softly against the looming darkness. On the outside is a hard black surface that shows no signs of life, it looks desolate and barren with rock formations jutting everywhere. No type of water is seen nor mountain tops but just below the surface (about 20 feet of rock and sentiment, the density varies depending) there is a whole other world; one of lush emerald greens and vivid sapphire blues and bright ruby reds, all glowing softly, illuminating the world around them. There is exotic plant life that are jagged and stiff, shooting horizontally across the land. Mountains of lavender and violet shoot straight in the air touching the black surface, that hold up the surface. Some places are 520 feet high while others can be as small as 15 inches tall, barely enough for Larval stage to pass through.
Food:
For the Xenobeast there diets change as the grow bigger and evolve into the next stage.At the larval stage they will start with the sap of the planet beneath them usually by the base of one of the mountains. Using their tentacles, they press themselves close to the earth and only move when they have drained that spot of all luminescence and nutrience that could be gleaned and stored in their mantle.
Then when they reach the "noisy cricket" stage they have graduated to the need of protein. They start to hunt for small creatures that live near their area. Sometimes when the noisy cricket get about 32" or so they start to eat some of the smaller, weaker Xenobeast from the larval stage. It is the act of consuming a dozen or so of these larva that spark the next change to Basilisk Xenobeast. The only other way to spark the change is if they eat the nutrients that the larva give to the queen(s) and her court.
Now the Basilisk stage comes with a different set of problems. At this stage they need more then protein to sustain them. This is when they need complex set of nutrients that they can not easily find. Harden rock from the surface is the only source of this nutrient that they can find. At the Basilisk stage their metabolism has slowed with their body, so they only must travel to the surface every few weeks in order to glean some of this nutrience.
Very few get to the Hulking stage, because the only way to become this stage is for the Xenobeast to withstand the harsh elements of the surface for 4 or more weeks. Most that attempt such a feat, don't make it back home. For those that do, they no longer need to feed from the surface. They just have to climb one of the mountains to get the nutrients by one of their long arms to penetrate the bottom layer of rock that the mountain peaks touch.
Interesting Facts:
The larval stage is known to be the gatherers of the hive. With the stored nutrients, they take this to the queen(s) and her court which are their main source of direction. The queen(s)and her court are the Imperial Xenobeast. They chose the direction of the hive and protect them from unknown dangers from other universes.At the noisy cricket stage, the hive uses them as scouts for new land and uses them to find out information about their enemies. They are also the ones that are sent in first in times of war.
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