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Old 03-23-2016, 12:34 PM   #1
Wavefunction
 
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Default Angels and Demons as Aliens

Hey y'all,

I've been musing over a possible future science fiction game, and I liked the suggestion at the end of Monster Hunters 5: Applied Xenology to reinterpret angels and demons as aliens. Sadly, my creative juices seem to have all but evaporated (I blame excessive quantities of mathematics), so I'm stuck with only a few sparks of inspiration.

How would you guys represent an angel or demon as an alien race? More interested in the angel than the demon. Pseudo-science stuff like psionics would be fine, but flat-out magic or divine power wouldn't be (though I'm aware the distinction is largely fluff).

Thanks.
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Old 03-23-2016, 12:49 PM   #2
Nosforontu
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Default Re: Angels and Demons as Aliens

Vorlons from Babylon 5 is a classic example of aliens as angels. Essentially an elder race that may have uplifted younger races and imprinted on them at a deep level the idea of them being divine.
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Old 03-23-2016, 01:06 PM   #3
naloth
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Default Re: Angels and Demons as Aliens

The Recluse series by Modesitt uses that as a backdrop. Basically two warring high tech alien races crash on a primitive planet at different times and end up stuck there. The demons (and those with demon ancestors) have an affinity for chaos magic while those with angel blood like cooler climates and can work order magic.
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Old 03-23-2016, 01:24 PM   #4
starslayer
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Default Re: Angels and Demons as Aliens

A few ways that it can be done:

1. They happen to look a bit like historical recollections of angles/demons.

The angles happen to have flight, and an affinity for order and flashing glowing weapons. In reality they have personal jetpacks, grav belts, or similar personal flight technology, and they like short range plasma devices.

The demons happen to have an affinity for disrupting order, and perhaps need to predate off humans in some way (psycic vampires, etc).

The two races dislike one another.

2. The babalon 5 approach: The angles and the demons had a 'parent' race that created humanity as well as them and left them to shepard humanity along. At some point in time they had a schism about the best way to do things. The angles felt that a guiding hand hold and minimising conflict was best. The demons felt that conflict would stir invention and cause evolution, and wanted to stress the humans in order to get them to grow. Fast forward thousands of years of open fighting and tense ceasefire treaties and there are some very specific laws about how the angles and demons can operate with mankind.

3. New boss, same as the old boss. Some aliens have found mankind- they are choosing to emulate angles and demons in order to push mankind to a 'choice'- in reality they are both the same race using deception and technology to present themselves as two different warring forces- their end goals might be about getting a 'willing' slave race for a few generations, or this may be them attempting to exploit a loophole in a larger fabric that governs interaction between aliens and undeveloped worlds.

4. From the abyss- To date mankind has still yet to delve into the deepest depths of our own waters, let alone our own solar system, and life started in the water. Perhaps the angles and demons are not aliens, so much as 'there firsts'- aquatic entities that live in the deep water, with there own technology. They have dealt with humanity at multiple times as the years have gone by which has given rise to them being attributed to being angles, demons, gods, etc- but in reality they have just been a somewhat ahead parallel evolution- interaction with the terribly low pressure surface has been limited- but that could change quickly with certain technological advancements.
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