Truly "alien" aliens - idea resources?

[JCurwen3]

The article Well Past Alien, by J. Edward Tremlett on Pyramid #3/35: Aliens, p. 21 was fantastic. I'm definitely using at least a few ideas from there.

I'm wondering if there are any other resources (on the web, in books, etc) for truly "alien" aliens or ideas for such. Ideally alien in both mind and body. I want to get away from the "humans in rubber suits" thing (or even humanoids or things that loo remotely like Earth life), and get away from easily human-comprehensible mindsets as well. Maybe even occasionally get away organic or even atomic matter based lifeforms.

I've looked around but resources for hypothetical xenobiological "examples" and scenarios seem hard to find. I'm not looking for anything "all-done" or specific, just more inspiration for "off-the-wall" mind-stretching alien encounters.

[smurf]

It's the unknown. IMO the humanoid look is the only model we have for intelligient life. That is the myriad of things that seperate us from the animals.

Therefore there is the difference between hard science and scifi.

Making them think differently is difficult and many assmptions on what makes humans behave is not genetics but more to do with culture.

Of course having the more outlandish xeno types is more scifi and can behave as you wish.

Avoiding a cliche, it looks like a dog and behaves like one or a cat whatever and usually snakes are bad. Even if you base them on some sort of animal it should not mean they behave as such.

Maybe a Molerat or Gecko people would be amusing. The burrowers and the clingers.

The could be have very communally with the interest of all in their social environment. Or clan like competing for prestige, possibly a balkanised society. Within moments we are back to various human cultures because it is the only model we have.

Are they high tech, do they have to be high tech? It is possible some went off world and got their tech that way. IMO It's about thinking of customs and culture.

[whswhs]

One of the great classic sources is Olaf Stapledon's The Star Maker, whose viewpoint character undergoes a grand tour of the entire universe, from the coalescence of the first galaxies to the final heat death. Stapledon makes up nautiloids with sails, symbiotic races, vegetative races, and a lot of others in less detail. There are enough ideas in that book to generate several epics.

Bill Stoddard

[Mr_Sandman]

I thought that the 2300 AD rpg had some interesting aliens. They were not just humans in suits, and were distinctive without being clichéd. But they were not so enigmatic, transcendent, etc., that they were impossible for a GM to portray.

[thrash]

Orion's Arm is always a good go-to for hard science fiction inspirations.

[jason taylor]

One possibility:

Stage 1: Construct environment.

Stage 2: Imagine physical traits appropriate to survival in that environment.

Stage 3: Imagine a creature with these traits as intelligent. What psychological aspects are appropriate.

For instance an intelligent egg-laying species might have SoD egg. If it takes care of eggs like birds. If it just lays masses of eggs like a fish it may have only SoD to those that survive to a given age. A collectivistic species may have no SoD between individual parents and their individual children but have SoD between the tribe and it's children.

[ericthered]

I find people are typically looking for very different things when they talk about "truly alien aliens". Some of these things overlap, but others don't.

One element that is constantly in contention is how "unrealistic" the aliens can be. Often, the more alien something is, the less plausible, at least to us.

This makes good resources are such things very hard to make, and I have found that the things I like usually have a continuum extending from fairly close to humanity to rather silly, and I like a section of it.

Some literature is pretty good. Known space as some excellent examples (and some terrible ones), and the pequinos of speaker for the dead are really good. (psychologically, mainly). In all though, what you think of "alien" is something of an art.

[Ji ji]

Frank Schätzing's novel The Swarm proposes a specie that is alien in body, mind and physiology.

[LokRobster]

I like the alien races in 'The Damned' trilogy by Alan Dean Foster.

The Amplitur are the chief antagonistic race, slug-like mind-controllers and gene-manipulators... they 'make' other races their allies. There are solitary races, engineer races, diplomacy races... but one nearly universal trait that intelligent races share is the complete abhorrence of violence and combat. Most races are fragile and slow compared to humanity. Entirely peaceful beings are pretty alien to us, when you get down to it.

You can imagine what happens when they find Earth - hosting the most barbaric race in the galaxy...

[Flyndaran]

Life is barbaric by necessity. Fully pacifistic people are fighting some pretty hard wired natures. It can be done, I think, but only with strongly enforced culture. I read the first book, and found it a bit silly.