Skills for TL0 Aliens

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by lwcamp

But do note that creatures with actual exoskeletons or other hard armor often have quite good senses of touch. Insects and the like have nerves in their exoskeletons that can (at least) sense strain and pick up what forces are acting and where pressure is being applied. They also have sensory bristles or hairs sticking out that can sense minute air currents and very gentle touches. Many lizards, even heavily armored lizards, have highly enervated armor scales that give them a good sense of touch; and crocodilians not only have sensitive armor plates but have special pits in their face scales that are exquisitely sensitive to touch and pressure (they use these to detect vibrations in the water for hunting, but they also probably come in useful for courtship, sensing water conditions while swimming, and predator avoidance).

That's not to say that your choice of low touch sensitivity is wrong - they're your creations and you can make them as you like. I'm just saying that heavy armor does not necessarily interfere with touch.

See also the writeup of feelers in GURPS Powers: Enhanced Senses.

[khorboth]

Originally Posted by lwcamp

That's not to say that your choice of low touch sensitivity is wrong - they're your creations and you can make them as you like. I'm just saying that heavy armor does not necessarily interfere with touch.

Luke

Absolutely. Maybe every creature on the planet has a low sense of touch compared to humans. Or maybe just the Order to which the sentients belong. I'm reminded of the planet in A Wrinkle in Time where the Beasts had no concept of sight because nothing on their planet had evolved that sense. Who's to say what's normal where? (the GM, I suppose)

[FictionXVI]

Well the planet does have low land regions with a toxic atmosphere. I was thinking maybe the lack of touch is because little hairs/feelers like that don't do well exposed to the environment, or they leave to many gaps in the armor. I mean I already knew that I wanted the chitin that makes up their mouth have the ability to close in such a way to create a seal against the toxic air. They can't hold their breath super long mind you but longer than a human. So a quick dash into the valley and then back out for some unique resource (still figuring out), or as a tool if weather blows the toxic atmosphere into higher regions and they need some extra minutes to get up the nearest tree. This was going to be a common adaptation too, most non flying creatures would have it.

So its almost like they have to feel everything through a natural glove. The only part really exposed is their eyes but I was thinking a clear third eyelid like amphibians and reptiles have would do the trick.

[PTTG]

Toxic regions could be full of detritovores that are resistant to the chemical atmosphere and feed on animals killed by the shifting toxin clouds. Some of these might be similar to fungi. If these fungus analogs are rich in food value, many kinds of animal life would have the ability to dive into the valleys in harsh times.

It's actually quite reasonable to expect that these valleys would collect nutrients needed for life above the toxin line. In addition to solid debris tending to roll downhill, rainwater would wash everything from complex biological compounds to base elements like phosphorous and sulfur into the lakes and valleys.

Some life probably spends its whole life in the toxic levels, and probably contributes to the toxin clouds itself or else is in a form of symbiosis with life that does. Some life avoids the toxic zones altogether, getting its nutrients from other life forms. And a third, critical clade would have the ability to dive into the toxic lowlands to gather resources that enable life in the highlands.

Calcium would be an especially appropriate compound.

[FictionXVI]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Some life probably spends its whole life in the toxic levels, and probably contributes to the toxin clouds itself or else is in a form of symbiosis with life that does. Some life avoids the toxic zones altogether, getting its nutrients from other life forms. And a third, critical clade would have the ability to dive into the toxic lowlands to gather resources that enable life in the highlands.

Yes the toxic regions are caused by a distinct form of biology. Basically the story goes that at some point some extremophile from an ice moon got transplanted to the new world via a collision on the moon. Some of the microscopic critters survived the trip and started producing toxic gases as a biological waste product, evolved into more complex creatures, and even began to shift the planets evolution as a whole. Ever since then "native" life has been in evolutionary combat with the "alien" life. Though after billions of years of evolution the two definitely have blended together somewhat. Theirs probably "native" creatures that have fully adapted to the toxic areas and "alien" creatures that have adapted to survive out of the toxic atmosphere (Maybe bring some with them and weaponize it oooh. )

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by FictionXVI

Yes the toxic regions are caused by a distinct form of biology. Basically the story goes that at some point some extremophile from an ice moon got transplanted to the new world via a collision on the moon. Some of the microscopic critters survived the trip and started producing toxic gases as a biological waste product, evolved into more complex creatures, and even began to shift the planets evolution as a whole. Ever since then "native" life has been in evolutionary combat with the "alien" life. Though after billions of years of evolution the two definitely have blended together somewhat. Theirs probably "native" creatures that have fully adapted to the toxic areas and "alien" creatures that have adapted to survive out of the toxic atmosphere (Maybe bring some with them and weaponize it oooh. )

Have any of them developed cellular endosymbiosis, like that between our mitochondria and the larger cells that host them? There's a fine example of adapting to toxicity: photosynthesizers filled the atmosphere with the lethal poison oxygen, other bacteria adapted to get energy from it, and now a lot of organisms have those bacteria inside their cells processing the oxygen for them to supercharge their metabolisms.

[FictionXVI]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Have any of them developed cellular endosymbiosis, like that between our mitochondria and the larger cells that host them? There's a fine example of adapting to toxicity: photosynthesizers filled the atmosphere with the lethal poison oxygen, other bacteria adapted to get energy from it, and now a lot of organisms have those bacteria inside their cells processing the oxygen for them to supercharge their metabolisms.

I mean maybe that's how larger life started in the toxic regions rather than evolving multi-cellular life twice. Which, if I'm remembering correctly, didn't happen on earth for a looooong time, making it probably a rare occurrence. So yeah maybe some species over time learned to use the new biology to their advantage. Kinda like mitochondria or our gut bacteria. Maybe they have gut bacteria that helps them digest foods from the toxic regions.