Aerofauna of Terra Secundus - Part One

The Aerial lifeforms of Terra Secundus are nearly as diverse as those that occur in more terrestrial habitats. Aerofauna are, by definition, creatures who spend most of or their entire life cycle at altitude. What makes aerofauna different from the likes of birds or similar creatures is that they do not simply take to the air as a part of their terrestrial existence but instead make a life for themselves devoid of terrestrial contact. Many of them live at altitudes that exceed the range of birds and in some cases that of man-made flying contraptions. The purpose of this series of articles is to explore the many varied forms of life in the skies of our home of Terra Secundus.

Let us begin with Haler's Kraken. This creature is known for its large bulbous body which tapers into a neck-like extension at the front of the creature. Like many forms of aerofauna, Haler's Kraken is equipped with a trailing, non-prehensile tentacle which is uses as a sort of rudder and wind sensor. The Haler's Kraken is armed with four long, muscular tentacles that extend from it's "head" and normally trail behind and underneath it when not in use.

The kraken is a is a voracious predator and can be found following pods of smaller creatures across the skies. It is not adverse to attacking larger prey up to its own size and can even be found predating its own kind. Due to the brazen nature of this predator, it is also a threat to aerial vessels as these can often be mistaken for prey species and fall victim to its crushing tentacles.

Haler's Kraken is recognizable for its banded gray and black coloring which is broken up by mottling of white speckles. It's head and tentacles as well as its dorsal flange are a bright red, marking it for both mating and threat purposes. The Haler's Kraken sports a number of biol-luminescent spots along both of its sides.

Next we take a look at, the Yellow Bow. Filling a niche analogous to terrestrial dolphins or smaller whales, the Yellow Bow, named so for the yellow spot on the front of its body, is a relatively harmless creature. Sporting the common trailing tail tendril it utilizes a pectoral flange to propel itself at great speeds.

Yellow Bows are not predators but instead strain off massive amounts of cloud-borne algae common in the upper reaches of the sky. When threatened or during mating season, they can become quite agitated and dangerous, attacking anything they perceive as a threat natural or man-made alike.

In addition to its characteristic yellow front spot, the Yellow Bow is distinguished by its sky blue color with grey and white banding along their sides. Each of their three bands is marked by three bio-luminescent spots which it uses for communication.

The last aerofauna we shall discuss today is known as the Silky Sky Marshal. A rather graceful name for an equally graceful creature, the "Silky" as it is more commonly referred to, is a passive aerial opportunity feeder that easily blends int other surrounding clouds. From this position of concealment it will reach out and snare passing creatures with one of its many tentacles, moving them to its central mass where they will be stored in one of its expandable storage sacks for slow digestion.

Silkies are most commonly encountered by humans by accident as they seem to show no appetite for man flesh. Aerial vessels have become snared in their tentacles or outright collided with them, not having seen them as they floated hidden among the clouds. Silkies are sometimes found in the company of other aerial browsers as these creatures often blunder too close and become meals. Though too massive to fall prey to the likes of Haler's Kraken, Silkies do have predators in the form of flocks of Sky Darts or even the feared Shark Bats.

Silkies are identified by their melon, shaped bodies under which hangs a silky mass of filaments and sacks as well as defensive stinging pods. They have the ability to change their colors to blend in with the ambient colors of whatever cloud cover they are in and have even been seen flashing light across their bodies to simulate lightning. This last notable trait has often caused the unnecessary diversion of aerial conveyances who thought themselves in danger of colliding with an oncoming storm.

I do hope you have enjoyed this little adventure into the wondrous world of aerofauna.

Sincerely,

Dr. Herman Zolta
Zangief Insistute of Science

Steampunk Away From "Home"

Since my group and I began our plans for Aeronef, we have discussed whether or not we wanted to use Earthly nations or go with something original. For me, this brought up an interesting question. Is Steampunk/VSF reliant upon Earthly components to avoid becoming purely science fiction or are the elements that make it Steampunk/VSF more a matter of style rather than historical reference? To me, it seems to be about style and theme, but perhaps a bit of a look at the setting we intend to play in will help to demonstrate where I am coming from.

Our setting is on an alien world outside of Earth's celestial sphere, the idea being that it had been reached by humans through an Ethereal Hyper-locative Aperture (wormhole) some time ago. Though colonized by Earthly explorers, the planet known as Terra Secundus was later isolated when the EHA closed. Since then, the human colonies have formed into their own nations, developing technologies to adapt to their new world.

Terra Secundus is not an Earth analog, though it does have many similar environments. It is characterized by massive mountain ranges winding steeply across the face of the planet. So extreme are these ranges that some go beyond the limits of human airship technology to overcome and in many places they dive down in sheer cliffs to a veritable maze of sees, oceans and water ways. This leaves little in the way of flat land to colonize, making such areas crucial peaces of real estate.

The planet sports a variety of habitats in the valleys and plateaus that make up its more level lands, but much of these have been settled and converted to one extent or another by humanity. In other places communities have sprouted out of the sides of mountains or built upon reclaimed land jutting into one water way or another. In all cases, humanity balances on an eternal precipice, not just figuratively but quite literally, his existence forever challenged.

The planet has a few indigenous sentient species some hostile, some friendly and some simply disinterested in the presence of humanity. Most notable are the humanoid Deva, a red-skinned people similar to the Martians and possibly related in the same way that the humans of Terra Secundus are to terrestrial humans. The Deva are masters of the aerofauna of the planet and live in towering terraced cities or in travelling caravans made up of domesticated floaters carrying barque-like vessels under them. Relations with the Deva have been hit and miss and much of it has to do with the particular city or tribe one is dealing with.

The other notable race is a rarely scene and as yet identified insectoid species which occupies an area rich in contragravital minerals. This species will be dealt with more once the player playing them defines them more.

The above mentioned contragravital mineral is called Gravicite and it is found naturally in deposits throughout the planet in varying quantities. The raw ore can be used to power gravity drives thus making the heavier than air movement of massive vessels as possible as moving nautical dreadnoughts through the use of coal. But Gravicite is not only available as mined ore.

The aerofauna of Terra Secundus are also rich in contragravitic compounds and, if hunted and processed properly, can produce industrial quantities of Gravicine, a liquid with contragravitic characteristics. This has led to the thriving industry of "sky whaling" with entire fleets of ships combing the skies of Terra Secundus, harvesting the massive floaters for their valuable Gravicine. This has brought humanity into several direct conflict with the Deva who do not take kindly to the industrial slaughter of the creature that have so defined their culture.

One last source of contragravitic compounds is a through refining of chemicals and mineral that can be extracted from various flora natural to the planet. These plants, though not all demonstrating their own contragravitic characteristics, have been cultivated on massive industrial plantations where they are harvested and refined into Grivicine Distilate. This is a poor form of Gravicine which cannot produce military grade contragravitic properties but is enough to power and drive smaller or commercial vessels of smaller sizes. It's primary use is by smaller or poorer nations or city states, or as a way to take the burden off of more effective contragravitic compounds in larger nations.

As you can see, the setting has all the basic building blocks for good old colonial fun as well as being founded on basic VSF/Steampunk themes. I have just chosen to take the setting out of our solar system and away from conventional Earth governments, though certain cultural elements will persist. This frees me and my group to create what we want, allowing us to use familiar themes in ways that the conventional frameworks do not allow for. For me, it means being able to design aeronef vessels that do not look like they belong in conventional earthly fleets.

Thanks for reading,

-Eli