Science Fiction Idea: Characters

Today, I decided to share a little about some characters that can be found in the science fiction idea which, as I said the last time I wrote about it, has evolved into a series of stand-alone novels that are all set in the same universe but might fit into different genres. The characters will be different between the novels, but some may show up as side characters or cameos in other novels. I don't have a lot of characters planned out yet, but I do have a few that I'm willing to share a little about. 

First up, we've got Vrix. He's an Amphayan and father of six. The host who incubated those six is Taryn Toombs, a human from Earth. These two are a happy couple living on the Amphayan homeworld. Vrix primarily works construction, building the sprawling treehouses that the Amphayans call home, while Taryn spends his time caring for their children. Vrix also has a brother, Thrin. Thrin is the main reason Vrix still goes to Earth and attacks Lunulata ships even though he has a good family and every reason to stay on his own planet. After all, just the two of them survived from their clutch of six so Vrix is a little protective of his reckless brother. He's hoping that the human they just rescued from Earth, Nathan MacKinnon, will help mellow out his brother. It would let him spend more time getting to know Nathan's dad, Wally, who used to fish in the polluted waters of Earth and now works to fix things on the Amphayan homeworld. 

Next, we've got a character known as Orchid. Orchid is a human from the space habitat Avalon, which is primarily inhabited by the ultra-rich and the synths who perform all the tasks the humans don't want to. Orchid left the space habitat and moved to another planet where he works as a stripper. According to him, the reason he left was sheer boredom. He was bored with all his wants and needs being satisfied, and he wanted to experience a life that had a bit of a challenge to it. Whether this was the real reason or not remains to be seen. 

The second group of characters is part of the crew of a salvage vessel known as the Philotes. First up for the crew, we've got the captain, Grey Dawson. Grey was born and raised in the colony of Zion and has no desire to ever set foot back there. He considers his crew his family and his ship his home. Next, we've got the youngest of the salvaging crew who is just twenty and being given only missions that are reasonably safe, Reg Turner. Reg comes from the colony of Gaia, where her very large family (twelve siblings and her parents) still live. She's very family focused and eager to prove herself to the older members of the crew. Two of the heavy-lifters for the crew are Brodie Hall and Frank Jones, both from the colony Elyse. Brodie is a quiet-natured person who only speaks when necessary whereas Frank is more inclined to talk. Frank is also more of an older brother to Reg. The first nonhuman on the Philotes is the head of security, Crix, an Amphayan. He doesn't talk much about his life back on his home planet, possibly due to the plague that has been effecting the Naem'i for the past few decades. Though no one will mention it around him, the rumor mill suspects that he lost his family because of the plague. In the security department under Crix are River Green and Steff Baxter, two more humans from colonies. River is from the colony Aeon while Steff is from the colony Aura. River receives a fair bit of teasing regarding his name, mostly from Steff, and Steff is the one voted most likely to die in a horror movie for being too curious. They're the best shots in the security department. In charge of the medical bay is another nonhuman crewmate, Ferephise, a male Xethalian. Ferephise left his homeworld due to a lack of desire to have children. In all honesty, he's scared of children. Small, needy lifeforms that depend on him scare him like nothing else so he opted to join a crew where having children around wasn't practical or safe. Another of the nonhuman crew is Azorhi, a Culicivoran female. She was living in a derelict ferry that they were planning on scrapping and didn't take kindly to the invasion of her home. After a misunderstanding, she was invited to join the crew and now lives and works in engineering Bay 3. The final member of the Philotes crew is chief engineer, Sean Watson, a human from Earth who put himself through engineering school by working with scrap. He doesn't know how his parents are or if he has any siblings, though given the state of Earth, it's unlikely his parents are still around. 

These are just a few of the characters from the science fiction idea. They're not all from the same book, but they all share the universe. I'll post more characters as they're created and named, and possibly share more about these characters or the novels they'll be present in. Admittedly, I do have a couple characters that I didn't mention due to the fact that the characters do not have names yet even though they do have plots centered around them. Once they get names and a little more information about them, I'll be sure to share. 

Science Fiction Idea: Cultures

 Today, I'm going to mention a little bit about world-building since that's the stage this project is still currently in and focus on the details surrounding the cultures of the alien races from my last post as well as the three main groups of humans: those on Earth, those on space habitats, and those as colonists on other planets. I'm not going to be sharing every minute detail about each culture, but I will share a little.

Amphayan

The culture of the Amphayans might best be described as laid-back. Their eight day week is divided in such a way that four days are considered weekend days which are for relaxation and the pursuit of hobbies rather than work and education. Obviously, some occupations are still working (such as medical) but much like on Earth, Amphayans in the medical field will switch off for their weekends where they still have a four day break, it's just not the traditional weekend days. 

The trees where the Amphayans make their homes also bear fruit, which gets incorporated into the six meals they have per day. The most substantial meals are lunch, dinner, and supper while breakfast, the mid-afternoon snack, and dessert are usually a lighter affair and the most likely to consist of fruit picked right from the branches of their homes. Amphayans are mostly vegetarian, but will eat meat though it doesn't make up the majority of their diet. 

Amphayans are a social race and spend much of their time interacting with others, whether that be other Amphayans, the dwindling population of Naem'i, or humans. As stated previously, the Naem'i are the former host species for the Amphayan larvae but due to a plague, the numbers have been dwindling and the Naem'i are in no condition to be viable hosts. This doesn't mean the Amphayans just write them off or ignore them, however. Amphayans are working on finding a cure, but it is taking awhile. They also still provide homes and care for the Naem'i because they don't just see them as hosts; they see them as family. 

Humans make decent hosts, as far as the Amphayans are concerned. Humans that agree to become hosts can expect to be given upstanding medical care and a new home. It needs to be noted that Amphayans consider it exceptionally wrong to force anyone to be a host and most Amphayans will ask for permission after explaining the pros and cons of being a host. Humans from the colonies or from a space habitat are less likely to agree, but humans from Earth are willing to volunteer, though require more medical care than the others at the offset to get them healthy enough for incubation. 

Of course, Amphayans don't just take humans from Earth to be hosts. Amphayans are well known in the universe for taking humans from Earth just to get them off the planet and provide them a better life than the one they've got. And, again, if the human says they don't want to be a host, they aren't forced into it and are still provided and cared for once on the Amphayan homeworld, especially if they're ill. 

When it comes to the young, Amphayans have an "it takes a village" mentality. A typical small Amphayan family unit is usually made up of the parent Amphayan, any siblings of the parent, at least one Naem'i, the human that acted as host, any family of that human that came with them, and any other Amphayan children that have gone through the larval phase. 

Amphayans have decent trading relations with humans on colonies and with Xethalians. They tolerate the Culicivorans because, while they recognize that the Culicivorans have no control over the fact that they evolved to feast on humans, they don't like it or the fact that Culicivorans will pay the Lunulata to kidnap humans from Earth for them to hunt. The Lunulata are about as close to an enemy as the Amphayans have and it isn't uncommon for a small group of Amphayans to sneak aboard a Lunulata slaver ship and steal any slaves the Lunulata have acquired. 

Culicivoran

Hailing from a tropical homeworld, the Culicivorans are best known for their diet. As mentioned previously, they feast on human blood after their regular prey was almost hunted to extinction. They are an honorable hunter race (very similar to the Yautja of Predator fame), though they don't hunt for trophies or glory. They hunt because they need blood and only human blood will suffice. They do have standards, though, and will not hunt anyone younger than twenty, anyone older than sixty, or anyone suffering from an illness. 

Where the Amphayans believe in raising the children in a large family group, the Culicivorans have a more hands off approach. Culicivoran young are mostly independent as soon as they hatch, though they will watch the adults to learn the finer points of hunting and creating nets from webbing. Once the young have gotten the hang of creating nets, they're allowed on hunts with the adults. In some cases the young ones are able to make their first kill right away, but others aren't as lucky and an adult will step in to assist just to guarantee that the young has a chance.

Despite this hands off approach to child-rearing, Culicivorans do form close-knit groups and will work together, especially during larger hunts or hunts where the humans decide to work together as well. These groups are primarily just formed for hunting and will disband after a successful hunt, then rejoin during the next one. They are also capable of working together to build and pilot spacecraft capable of traveling to other planets, though they prefer not to do this often.

Culicivorans have the best relationship with the Lunulata as the Lunulata are their primary source for humans, but the Culicivorans are perfectly capable of retrieving the humans from Earth themselves. They tolerate the Amphayans simply because the Amphayans leave them be, and the Culicivorans are quite content to be left to their own devices, allowed to hunt and live as they please. They haven't had any interactions with the Xethalians as they've no reason to visit that planet, for the most part, and their homeworld isn't on a normal trade route for the Xethalians. 

Lunulata

Ah, the Lunulata. Intelligent, war-like, and very, very squishy. Being as intelligent as they are, they've built amazing, underwater homes in the shallows of their ocean planet, weapons to aid in their conquering of the Cellthonians, and ships capable of traveling the universe. That said, they never bothered to invent armor since it seemed inconvenient to them due to the amount of time they spend in and under the water. That means that they're constantly leaving their extremely squishy bodies open to attacks, though the only ones really at risk of being injured seriously due to this oversight are the single males that act as slavers, traveling to Earth and stealing humans. 

Aside from the single males, the majority of the Lunulata are content to remain on their homeworld and work in fields such as technology, military advancements, fishing, and hydroponic food production. The Lunulata military, comprised of males and females, hasn't ventured off-planet yet to conquer another world since their war with the Cellthonians has concluded only in recent decades. That said, they are relying on the slavers to keep a look out on their journeys to Earth for any planet that meets their needs (mainly, be a planet of mostly water like their homeworld) so they can expand their reach. 

When it comes to children, the Lunulata have a unique approach. While the children are mostly able to survive on their own from birth, they are very small and unfamiliar with the world as well as Lunulata culture so the parents will educate the children about the dangers of the planet and their language. Lunulata often have several children at once (sometimes six or more), which is good as the Lunulata do believe strongly in survival of both the fittest and the smartest and, while they will spend a little time teaching their children about the dangers of their homeworld (which includes adult Lunulata who will cannibalize the offspring of others), they won't protect them from anything or provide them with food once they're past three months old. At that point, the children are on their own. 

Once a Lunulata has managed to survive into adulthood, they're mostly safe but still run the risk of being cannibalized should they show any kind of weakness, injury, or disease. In the case of single males on slaver ships, injuries happen often. In some cases, they will cannibalize the injured one, but in others, particularly in the case of a group that's been working together for several years, they may abandon the injured one with the Amphayans as they know that Amphayans, despite their hatred for the Lunulata, will not kill one, especially an injured one, and have better medical technology than the Lunulata. 

Lunulata don't have much of a relationship with anyone aside from the Culicivorans and Amphayans, and even that is only the single males. Not all the humans that the Lunulata abduct end up sold to the Culicivorans. Some are taken back to the Lunulata homeworld to work on the coast alongside the Cellthonians and others are sold in slave markets on other planets. That said, not all humans who come across Lunulata find themselves taken as slaves. The Lunulata will, on occasion, interact with humans from colonies or from some space habitats. It also isn't out of the realm of possibility for Lunulata to attend academies with students from other planets, but this is a rare occurrence. 

Xethalian

The race I've done the least amount of world-building for, the Xethalians' homeworld is one with a dense atmosphere and higher gravity than that of Earth. This makes it easier for the Xethalians to remain airborne for longer. Xethalians make their homes in cliffs, scraping away the softer stone of the cliff face with their four extremely sharp and powerful clawed feet. Xethalians are a social race and build their cities in and on cliff faces, much like their homes. While Xethalian homes are nondescript holes into the face of the cliff, cities will sometimes have machinery such as propeller-drill for breaking through the harder rock. The Xethalian spaceships can be found on top of the cliffs. 

Xethalians are social and enjoy traveling the universe, usually as traders or explorers. This is more common with females than males, but there are usually still a fair number of male Xethalians that become spacefaring. They have established trade routes that take them near the Amphayan homeworld, most colonies, several space habitats, and Earth, though they rarely stop at Earth due to the lack of trade goods and pollution. Xethalians will also pass near the Lunulata homeworld, but rarely stop there due to the Lunulata reputation and propensity for enslaving other races. Any trade happening with them takes place on a neutral third party planet. Xethalians, after Amphayans and humans, are the ones most likely to be found on spaceships with other races as they work well with others and are very social. They don't have any particular feelings one way or the other toward Culicivorans because, as a whole, neither group has interacted, though individuals have sometimes crossed paths.

When it comes to children, Xethalians are very hands-on. At least, the fathers are. The mothers leave soon after the eggs are laid, leaving the fathers to incubate the eggs then raise the chicks. This is very similar to cassowaries. The males will raise the chicks as single fathers, caring for and protecting them until they are old enough to survive on their own. The males teach the chicks how to fly when they're about seven years old, then continue to care for them until they are at least sixteen at which point they are considered adults and are able to strike out on their own now that their primary education is finished. Some chicks will remain at home with their fathers for a bit longer while they decide on a career and attempt to find a suitable space for their home. Some will even remain with their fathers once they have chicks of their own, relying on their fathers to show them what to do. Orphaned Xethalian chicks are usually adopted fairly quickly by males who haven't mated, males who weren't able to sire children, or males that just plain weren't interested in mating. 

Earth

A polluted, nearly depleted and devastated planet, Earth has become a scavenger world where everyone is doing what they can to survive. Farming, fishing, and hunting are the primary sources of food and income. Most of the humans that remain on Earth are those who couldn't afford to buy an apartment on a space habitat or weren't able to secure a position on a ship heading to a colony. Due to radiation and pollution, most humans are ill and in debt trying to afford medical care. Their best bets to get off-planet is if they join the military (which will have the added bonus of providing them with money they can send home to their families) or if they're captured by the Lunulata and then rescued by the Amphayans.

Avalon (space habitat)

One of several Stanford torus-style space habitats orbiting Earth, the Avalon is home to 140,000 humans and a varying number of synths (synthetic non-sentient humanoids) that perform the day-to-day maintenance, agriculture, waste removal, and other jobs onboard such as barista, waiter, chef, housekeeping, gardening. Humans onboard the Avalon do not work and spend much of their time lounging, reading, enjoying the parks and artificial lakes, working out, and spending their money on things such as the finest food, the latest fashions, the best medical care, trips to destination colonies, cybernetic enhancements or bio-modifications. Humans that were able to secure a spot on the Avalon are the richest of the rich. 

Zion (colony)

Zion is a relatively new human colony on the moon of a gas giant. It isn't the only colony on the moon; however, it is the only all-human settlement. Zion is mostly a mining community due to the amount of mineral resources available, but also plays host to researchers and farmers as well as families. It should be noted that Zion is one of the few colonies where it is a crime to be gay and non-traditional families aren't accepted. The atmosphere isn't breathable for humans without a breathing apparatus so they stay inside the colony except for when they're boarding a spaceship which will take them to another planet, which sometimes includes Earth as more people are always needed to fulfill the needs of the colony. At the moment, no terraforming can occur because of the other colonies on the planet, but there are discussions between the leaders of each colony regarding this.

So, there you have it: a little about each culture. Now, as I said before, these are just the races that have been worked on and named so far. There are going to be others because it's a big universe. Also, you'll note I mentioned academies that the Lunulata could attend with other races from other planets and the military being a viable option for humans hoping to get off Earth, but I didn't go into any detail about those. That's because those are the subjects for upcoming posts so keep your eyes peeled if you're interested in reading more of my ramblings about this science fiction setting. 

Science Fiction Idea: Alien Races

 I've not shared much about this particular project, mostly because I haven't worked on it very much. Inspiration called me to other projects and then life happened (a car accident, specifically) which meant that my focus was drawn elsewhere. Still, I remembered this project and have been world-building a bit here and there when I feel a lag in inspiration for the break-time project or want something different from The Agency. 

I've not done terribly much with the idea at this point, though I do know a fair bit about the primary alien races for the idea and that the "idea" is no longer a space opera, not quite. The "idea" is more like a series of stand-alone novels that are all set within the same universe, but feature different characters and have different tones, spanning different genres. 

For example, there is one novel idea featuring a salvage crew that finds a derelict ship that definitely falls into the horror category, but then there's a novel idea featuring a rogue synth that has gained sentience and is now on the run that falls under action or possibly thriller. There's also an idea has elements of the biopunk genre, such as genetic engineering and genetic modification. Then, of course, there's going to be intergalactic armies at war (military science fiction) and a ragtag group of heroes out to save the galaxy (space opera). Not to mention the disaster landscape Earth has become (post-apocalyptic) and the space habitats that the upper-class call home (dystopia). With so many different ideas that fit into different genres, it only made sense to have it be separate novels that occur within the same universe. 

I mentioned that I know a bit about the alien races present in this idea. I don't have all the information about every race--or even all the information about one race--but I do know a little about each of them. Mostly, I know what they look like, but for some of them I also know their culture, normal occupation, how they interact with humans, and (in the case of one alien race) how they evolved. 

The first alien race that I created was the Amphayans. Amphayans are a species that have moth-like wings, long barbed tails, four arms, two legs, antennae, compound eyes capable of seeing infrared and ultraviolet, and fluff (much like how some moths are fluffy). The Amphayans are a symbiotic race, protecting and caring for the alien race known as the Naem'i that incubates their eggs, but due to a plague (which may have been a bio-weapon that was released) that race is dying out and not healthy enough for the incubation. The Amphayan home-world is one with tall trees where the Amphayans live in massive, multi-level treehouses that can sometimes span multiple trees, and are connected to the other trees by bridges, though adult Amphayans are capable of flight. I have a lot more of their culture written down and even went so far as to make a calendar for them.

Next up there's the Lunulata. The Lunulata are a race that was inspired by the blue-ringed octopus. As such, they are very squishy, venomous, four tentacled, two legged, beaked, three-hearted aliens with crescent-shaped designs on their bodies that pulse and change color. They can survive out of water, but prefer to be in it since their gills are better developed than their lungs. Their planet is a very watery one, dotted with islands (those who play video games may have Subnautica spring to mind), and despite being very squishy, they are very war-like and have gone to war with (and conquered) a race of terrestrial crab-like aliens based on the porcelain crab, the Cellthonians. Single males of the Lunulata are the ones most likely to venture off-planet as slavers while the rest tend to focus on education, technology, and military advancements.

The race that appeared shortly after the Amphayans is the Culicivorans. This alien race is based off the jumping spider known as Evarcha culicivora, a spider that found only around Lake Victoria in Kenya and Uganda that feeds on mosquitos, but only those who drink human blood. Naturally, the Culicivorans have no need to feed on mosquitos and instead go straight to the source: humans. Culicivorans look like spider-centaurs (or driders, for those who are familiar with Dungeons & Dragons) where the upper half is humanoid while the lower half is that of a very large spider. Much like the spiders they're based on, Culicivorans are mostly gray with white and red markings. Unlike their namesakes, however, Culicivorans are very much capable of creating and using webs, mostly as nets to trap their prey. Culicivorans are hunters that originally preyed on a humanoid species from their home-world, but found themselves in need of a different type of prey when this species was almost hunted to extinction (the species is critically endangered now, but recovering). Originally, Culicivorans were more spider than human, but began to evolve the humanoid torso to better lure in prey. Throughout millennia, the evolution made the humanoid torso more detailed and more dexterous until finally becoming the Culicivorans of present. Presently, the Culicivorans are the ones most likely to pay the Lunulata to steal humans from Earth (which isn't doing so great, as mentioned briefly above) so they can hunt them on their home planet. 

The fourth species that I have at least a little information figured out about is the Xethalians. Xethalians are an owl-like race with four wings (two large, two small), six eyes with astonishing eyesight, powerful tails, small pointy ears, a wide beak, and four small, clawed legs. Their skin is fairly weak and covered in short wide feathers that are primarily dark orange and gray, dulling with age. Unlike most bird species on Earth, the males have less varied colors and aren't as flashy. So far, this is all I've got on them, but it's more than a couple races I can think of that were briefly mentioned above. 

That's all for the alien races at the moment. I do have more written down about Amphayans, but don't want to share too much too soon. I'm also still creating alien races as well. After all, it's a big universe. 

I've been neglecting this idea and neglecting talking about it, but that's going to change. I'll be posting about either this idea or the break-time one in between the regular posts featuring excerpts from The Agency.

New Year, New Projects

Happy New Year to everyone! As the title says, I've got some new projects I'm working on. One is a weird-horror anthology called The Agency, featuring an agency that deals with the supernatural, paranormal, and unusual and is divided into 7 main branches and 24 support teams. The other is a currently untitled science fiction project that is still in the beginning "world-building" stages, but I may post more about it here once in awhile. 

Now, given that this is a new year, this blog is going to be a bit different from how it has been in the past. I'm going to be posting regularly for starters. Next, I'm going to start sharing information about writing projects as well as excerpts here and there. I'll also include writing tips that work for me and links to articles that have helped when it comes to world-building. 

Also, I need to shout-out my friends over at DandyTimeCafe on YouTube for giving me the courage to be more open with my writing. They're amazing and if you love literature, but don't have time to sit and read, go listen while they read some of the classics.

The Agency

A weird-horror anthology that contains the strange and unusual from a lighthouse that shows up at the scene of certain suicides (Artifact 0037LH) to a mushroom that burrows into the skin of anything it touches (Specimen 024SB) as well as the untold story of what really happened in Centralia (Location 024C) and the truth behind the Tunguska Event (Inmate 003). Not to mention a cult surrounding a wish-granting quarry (Location 014Q) and small town with their own take on "God is in everyone" (Location 062EP). 

I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. First, let's meet the Agency. 

Divided into seven main branches and 24 support teams, the Agency has quite the reach. The seven main branches are: 

• Field - Known as collectors, they're the ones on point the minute something strange and unusual happens. They receive weapons training and are given brief rundowns of what to expect when they go into a location or go to retrieve an artifact, tome, specimen, or entity. They aren't always given all the information. Sometimes, when clearing a soon-to-be-quarantined area, they work with support team Alpha, soldiers with specialized training that assist with extractions and body retrievals. 
• Museum - Known as curators, the Museum is where all the artifacts collected are housed. Much like a standard museum there is a look-but-don't-touch policy in place. The curators and a couple other support teams (namely Omicron researchers and Omega scientists) are the only ones allowed to touch the artifacts, but all things considered, most do not want to. 
• Greenhouse - With a name like that, it only makes sense that the ones working here are known as gardeners. The Greenhouse is home to all manner of dangerous plants and thus requires precautions be taken. Full coverage outfits are expected in most of the Greenhouse and it isn't uncommon to meet a gardener or Omicron researcher with missing fingers or scars from violent encounters with the specimens. 
• Library - Created only after an encounter with a constantly screaming book that wouldn't shut up until moved from the Museum, the Library houses all the books collected as well as books that are less supernatural, but contain occult rituals that the librarians and the Omicron researchers may find useful. 
• Prison - Controlled by the wardens, the Prison houses all the entities that the Agency is able to apprehend. The Prison is divided into different cell-blocks labeled from A to D and houses entities that can be considered apocalyptic should they escape or mostly harmless except under certain situations. The wardens are the ones here most often, though they also have support team Zeta act as janitors and others from different divisions or support teams are allowed to visit prisoners. 
• Containment - The division that spends the least amount of time actually interacting with other divisions or support teams other than Zeta, the custodians are in charge of securing the locations and guaranteeing that the areas stay secure with nothing entering or leaving them. In the case of certain locations, the custodians merely make sure to document incidents and minimize security leaks while in others they are authorized to use deadly force to keep the area secure. 
• Archives - The ones who document all the strangeness and keep both an audio and written record, the archivists and support team Iota (archival assistants and translators) are the most removed. It is uncommon for them to leave their department, but sometimes they will take statements in the field. Otherwise, those who are approached by the Agency after seeing or experiencing something supernatural are brought to the Archives to give their testimony. 

All stories in The Agency are formatted with the designation the Agency gave them as either Artifact, Inmate, Location, Specimen, or Tome as the title and include a brief overview of the description and history followed by a testimony (or testimonies) written as a transcript(s). Some entries are longer than others due to the number of incidents involving whatever is being discussed as well as how much history Omicron researches have tracked down about the subject. 

Not every story will involve the same characters, though there may be a cameo here or there of some of them if the time frame is right. One recurring character to keep an eye out for is Superior Callum Read, the head of the Agency. Pay attention to him and the dates that he's mentioned. 

An important note is that anyone can become an employee of the Agency if they show enough promise or the supernatural event involving them is severe or life-changing enough. The Agency will offer employment and find jobs that suit them in the various support teams or main branches depending on what the person did before their life was dramatically changed by an encounter with the supernatural. 

That's all for now about The Agency. Keep checking back for more about the Agency and its employees as well as my other project, tips, writing advice, and even excerpts from The Agency.