Re: Brainstorming

[captainbeer]

So, building off what Quest Lord posted.

Species 'alignment':

Social	------	Isolated
Carnivore	------	Herbivore
Lawful	------	Chaotic

And for actual social interaction, perhaps the places could be agreed upon neutral meeting grounds. Only those who agree to lower their claws are allowed in so that trading/services/other stuff can happen. Started by some enterprising beetle that hires out from the local ant colony for muscle.

[Alpharius]

So, building off what Quest Lord posted.

Species 'alignment':

Social	------	Isolated
Carnivore	------	Herbivore
Lawful	------	Chaotic

And for actual social interaction, perhaps the places could be agreed upon neutral meeting grounds. Only those who agree to lower their claws are allowed in so that trading/services/other stuff can happen. Started by some enterprising beetle that hires out from the local ant colony for muscle.

A three-dimensional alignment chart? Difficult, but not impossible.

[BrokenMuse]

I'm leery of law/chaos There's enough potential for conflict and agreement between bugs with the other two pieces. It see

To expand on the motivations idea I mentioned earlier, characters would pick 1-3 things that drive them. Food, Safety, Glory, etc. It could be expanded with some other elements I suppose. Needs some work.

[captainbeer]

Well, I don't think too much thought has to go into placing your character on it, as the herbivore/carnivore thing is more of a species feature than an alignment I guess.

Additionally, a very large portion of insects that would be considered playable due to proper size and cool looks are carnivores. Are ALL insects going to be sentient? Or are only some of the large ones going to be? The reason for asking this is if it was possible that there could be a species or two that has no sentience that is considered common food. It would make race relations much easier, particularly between carnivores and herbivores, because humans (usually) don't think twice about eating non-sentient cows.

[Quest Lord]

So, building off what Quest Lord posted.

Species 'alignment':

Social	------	Isolated
Carnivore	------	Herbivore
Lawful	------	Chaotic

And for actual social interaction, perhaps the places could be agreed upon neutral meeting grounds. Only those who agree to lower their claws are allowed in so that trading/services/other stuff can happen. Started by some enterprising beetle that hires out from the local ant colony for muscle.

Sounds good to me. Do we need a lawful/chaotic. I figure Social/Isolated would be the equivalent.

[Alpharius]

Well, I don't think too much thought has to go into placing your character on it, as the herbivore/carnivore thing is more of a species feature than an alignment I guess.

Additionally, a very large portion of insects that would be considered playable due to proper size and cool looks are carnivores. Are ALL insects going to be sentient? Or are only some of the large ones going to be? The reason for asking this is if it was possible that there could be a species or two that has no sentience that is considered common food. It would make race relations much easier, particularly between carnivores and herbivores, because humans (usually) don't think twice about eating non-sentient cows.

Hmm... Well, what would be the cattle analogue? Aphids? I kind of like the idea of them being sentient, trading their honeydew to the ants in exchange for the ants bringing them food, giving them a place to stay, and protecting them.

[captainbeer]

Hmm... Well, what would be the cattle analogue? Aphids? I kind of like the idea of them being sentient, trading their honeydew to the ants in exchange for the ants bringing them food, giving them a place to stay, and protecting them.

Agreed. First I was thinking if we even WANTED a non-sentient race or two. Without it would lead to some interesting politicking but with it would lead to easier politicking.

If non-sentients existed I would vote for common flies and maybe the common roaches.

[Quest Lord]

Well, I don't think too much thought has to go into placing your character on it, as the herbivore/carnivore thing is more of a species feature than an alignment I guess.

Additionally, a very large portion of insects that would be considered playable due to proper size and cool looks are carnivores. Are ALL insects going to be sentient? Or are only some of the large ones going to be? The reason for asking this is if it was possible that there could be a species or two that has no sentience that is considered common food. It would make race relations much easier, particularly between carnivores and herbivores, because humans (usually) don't think twice about eating non-sentient cows.

Social/Independant would be a species feature too.

I think that having all insects intelligent, or at least have intelligent members of all species would be the best move. If someone wanted to play as a species and it was one of the food species, it'd suck. . .

I like the idea of predatory species being handicapped in a social scene, due to being disliked, etc.

[Alpharius]

Hmm... Well, what would be the cattle analogue? Aphids? I kind of like the idea of them being sentient, trading their honeydew to the ants in exchange for the ants bringing them food, giving them a place to stay, and protecting them.

Agreed. First I was thinking if we even WANTED a non-sentient race or two. Without it would lead to some interesting politicking but with it would lead to easier politicking.

If non-sentients existed I would vote for common flies and maybe the common roaches.

Eh... Flies I could see, although good luck catching them. Cockroaches seem like one of the species MOST likely to gain sentience.

[captainbeer]

Alright, I do kinda like ALL species being sentient, just thought it should be something that was set down. So, wasps drool, bees rule.

[Alpharius]

wasps drool

Until a few come and implant the party with eggs, yeah, I guess.

[Quest Lord]

wasps drool

Until a few come and implant the party with eggs, yeah, I guess.

Fuck. . . That'd suck HARD with sentience. Slow and painful death, no escape.

[BrokenMuse]

There can be variation among species too. Aphids living on their own may have some simple awareness but aphids kept by ants are going to have that squashed right away. Flies that live from roadkill to roadkill may have a complex society or just be parasites looking for their next meal and place to lay eggs.

Adversity may affect self-awareness as well. A placid field with no troubles breeds a hive of dull honeybees whereas cockroaches living in a landfill might be pretty savvy.

[captainbeer]

wasps drool

Until a few come and implant the party with eggs, yeah, I guess.

Fuck. . . That'd suck HARD with sentience. Slow and painful death, no escape.

But hey, they're sentient. Perhaps there's a doctor bug out there somewhere who can remove them? (For the right price of course)

[Quest Lord]

There can be variation among species too. Aphids living on their own may have some simple awareness but aphids kept by ants are going to have that squashed right away. Flies that live from roadkill to roadkill may have a complex society or just be parasites looking for their next meal and place to lay eggs.

Adversity may affect self-awareness as well. A placid field with no troubles breeds a hive of dull honeybees whereas cockroaches living in a landfill might be pretty savvy.

I like the dynamic of the aphids selling their honeydew to the ants for protection, making them the equivalent to traders and merchants. But I agree, adversity should effect the mood of the bugs and their 'street savvy'. If you live in easyland, you only need to know how to find flowers for food. But somewhere else, you might be a cynical and wary bug, unready to trust anybug.

[jesusofthemonkeys]

keep the flies sentient. They seem like drunk-ass crazy russian pilots in my head

[Alpharius]

keep the flies sentient. They seem like drunk-ass crazy russian pilots in my head

Or ADD-rattled kids with PLAAAAAAAAAAAAAANES

[Quest Lord]

Flies are that guy in the group who puts all his skill points into running and just runs away from everything. Even mounted opponents. Even hasted enemies. Even hasted lightning.

All points are for flying skills, speed and reactions.

[BrokenMuse]

Or crazy-fast scouts. While everyone's discussing how to enter that bush, they've already scouted the whole area out. Then crashed into a web.

[Bogleech]

Flies are such a fundamental insect in our culture that they're obligatory character options, along with roaches. I could see roaches as the balanced all-purpose species, the equivalent to humans.

For arthropods of animal-level intelligence, why not mites? They're everywhere, they're diverse, and they're both smaller and simpler than most other arthropods.

The plagues of bee-destroying Varroa could be a cool plot device. Other mites could be pests, vermin, monsters, maybe even living tools and weapons, if you aren't using manufactured weapons. Many real insects have their own unique beneficial or commensal mites. Whatever made insects sentient could have given some of them the ability to communicate with mites as an extension of themselves. Carrion beetle Acarinamancers?.

Mollusks, annelids, planarians and other squishier inverts could also be animalistic, although I really love the idea of snail characters brought up in the original topic.

Are larger vertebrates going to be the exact same species we have today, or show more evolution/mutation in this post-apocalyptic world? I'd imagine that of arthropods look more or less the same but happen to be smarter, mammals and birds might just be a little diseased-looking and behave more erratically.

[Quest Lord]

Mites might be a mite small to be PCs, so having them as cattle might be ok. However, larger species can't live off of them, so the conflict would remain.

I like the idea of Acarinamancers, also Carrion beetles might have some interesting social dynamics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphidae#Reproduction

I think the larger creatures will seem more diseased, etc. to a bugs eyes, and their behaviour would seem more erratic, even if it isn't. They're huge monsters, and only the mightiest of bugs or armies can stop them. . .

[Bogleech]

I wrote about Nicrophorus on my site, in an article on animals that deserve to be the new Halloween mascots. I gave them the #1 spot.

It might be getting too anthropomorphic, but I like the idea of having large multi-species cities with some sort of government-like structure. With the effectiveness of ant, termite and bee societies many other intelligent insects might want to follow suit. I could imagine this being seen by some naturally eusocial species, particularly ants, as a mockery of their lifestyle or against the natural order. Others, like honeybees, might take it upon themselves to create and protect such communities, another reason their dwindling numbers might be everybody's problem.

Predators could be treated as equals as long as they only hunt outside community borders and give back in some way. A spider might be a ruthless killer out in the wilderness, but when she steps into town she's a doctor (or whatever passes for a doctor). Some predators might be in charge of hunting fellow predators who broke those very rules.

[Quest Lord]

I think cities might be pushing it, but maybe 'towns' under a log, etc. where communities work roughly together, but not in the same organised, communistic fashion of eusocial bugs. They might, conglomerate and trade, etc, but they're still out for themselves first, and everyone else second.

[Naryzhud]

I think cities might be pushing it, but maybe 'towns' under a log, etc. where communities work roughly together, but not in the same organised, communistic fashion of eusocial bugs. They might, conglomerate and trade, etc, but they're still out for themselves first, and everyone else second.

I think this makes the most sense, think frontier towns in the old west, where there's a degree of distrust to anyone unknown and unproven and theres a "sheriff" who is just some badass spider or whatever who makes sure things stay peaceful. Mostly.

And then there's some enterprising beetle or whatever as someone mentioned before who acts as "mayor" and mediates discussions over food sources and such.

[Quest Lord]

I think cities might be pushing it, but maybe 'towns' under a log, etc. where communities work roughly together, but not in the same organised, communistic fashion of eusocial bugs. They might, conglomerate and trade, etc, but they're still out for themselves first, and everyone else second.

I think this makes the most sense, think frontier towns in the old west, where there's a degree of distrust to anyone unknown and unproven and theres a "sheriff" who is just some badass spider or whatever who makes sure things stay peaceful. Mostly.

And then there's some enterprising beetle or whatever as someone mentioned before who acts as "mayor" and mediates discussions over food sources and such.

Maybe a larger species of spider that couldn't live off eating the smaller bugs, so it becomes sheriff, and eats anyone who looks like they might want to take a few of the town's citizens away.

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