03-27-2016, 04:33 AM
What bugs me is that the avali occupy a really awkward slot where they're similar enough that I want them to interact freely with everyone else, but different enough for that to be problematic (I'm not the only one--pretty much everyone seems to want to hug them). A human could comfortably exist on the same world as a floran (or a klingon, or a wookie), and could hug or shake hands with him or her, but with avali I have to resort to a whole bunch of hand-wavy "augments" which probably wouldn't actually work. On the other hand, they're not as alien as a horta or a formic (to use the polite term from the movie). They're basically extremely social dinosaurs, and their biology makes them harder to write without really giving a whole lot of payoff. The reason I chose avali for my machinima was the interesting relationship between them and humanity, but there's nothing about that that requires their weird biology.
Meh. Sorry, I'm ranting. Maybe I was more skilled in writing xenofiction, I wouldn't have these problems.
If it bothers you that I say "never," perhaps I'll rephrase. I think there are so many obstacles that the avali learning to farm on their own that the chances of it coming about are negligible.
Moving on, we have a pretty good idea of what was on our ancestors' plates. We had a basic omnivorous diet and scavenged off kills by other predators. I don't think there was ever a time when we were only hunters (though some later cultures came close), but after we started using stone tools we started eating a lot more meat. We hunted larger game using our famous endurance technique--basically following prey at a jog for hours or days until it exhausts itself. I haven't read anything about systematic cannibalism in human ancestors, though I am familiar with the stories of cannibals that European explores liked to bring back.
I don't know if racism is the right word to describe conflicts between humans and related species. Interspecific competition would be more accurate. But you are correct that early humans were probably much more violent than modern ones--famous still-extant primitive tribes often have long series of killings and revenge killings. I imagine stone-age avali would have behaved similarly, basically the opposite of their modern mindset (at least with the super-loyal, hyper-unified species I give them). Hey, that could be an interesting story idea if I can pull it off.
On a different note, it occurred to me that avali operating in an Earth-like environment with temperature regulation augments like Rhaomi's might actually be warm enough for other races to touch. Their body would be constantly absorbing heat energy from the air around it, and that heat has to go somewhere to keep from melting the avali's internal organs, so it's probably radiated outward. So Rhaomi may be quite huggable (aside from the fact that he would probably bite you). It would be like hugging a reptile. Or maybe not, I haven't really finished thinking this through.
Meh. Sorry, I'm ranting. Maybe I was more skilled in writing xenofiction, I wouldn't have these problems.
If it bothers you that I say "never," perhaps I'll rephrase. I think there are so many obstacles that the avali learning to farm on their own that the chances of it coming about are negligible.
Moving on, we have a pretty good idea of what was on our ancestors' plates. We had a basic omnivorous diet and scavenged off kills by other predators. I don't think there was ever a time when we were only hunters (though some later cultures came close), but after we started using stone tools we started eating a lot more meat. We hunted larger game using our famous endurance technique--basically following prey at a jog for hours or days until it exhausts itself. I haven't read anything about systematic cannibalism in human ancestors, though I am familiar with the stories of cannibals that European explores liked to bring back.
I don't know if racism is the right word to describe conflicts between humans and related species. Interspecific competition would be more accurate. But you are correct that early humans were probably much more violent than modern ones--famous still-extant primitive tribes often have long series of killings and revenge killings. I imagine stone-age avali would have behaved similarly, basically the opposite of their modern mindset (at least with the super-loyal, hyper-unified species I give them). Hey, that could be an interesting story idea if I can pull it off.
On a different note, it occurred to me that avali operating in an Earth-like environment with temperature regulation augments like Rhaomi's might actually be warm enough for other races to touch. Their body would be constantly absorbing heat energy from the air around it, and that heat has to go somewhere to keep from melting the avali's internal organs, so it's probably radiated outward. So Rhaomi may be quite huggable (aside from the fact that he would probably bite you). It would be like hugging a reptile. Or maybe not, I haven't really finished thinking this through.