The Two Halves Of My Brain/the Two Wolves Inside Me When Making Up A Fantasy/sci-fi Creature:

Visual analysis and critique of the aliens in Mass Effect: Andromeda

A comparison between the current in-game models and the originals from the trilogy.

Introduction

Just a warning, this will be an extended read. If you’re going to invest in reading this longwinded analysis, I suggest you go get a nice beverage and come back with a cozy chair. This will be relatively spoiler free (unless you aren’t aware of any of the new races I guess?) so if you’re still at the beginning of the game like I am, no worries there! This analysis will have some pictures for comparison, and some edits that I’ve made myself.

Link to the EA ask board version [x]

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My dream for the election is that it’s definitive. I want a 2012-style Election Day where everyone built it up beforehand to possibly be close but then the results start rolling in and it was like “Oh, nevermind. It’s obviously Obama. Everyone go to bed.”

I just want voters to put a stake right through the heart of Trumpism so that it crumbles to ash before our eyes. That’s the dream.

A late Valentine’s Day project. Nick shows Hancock that there’s still value in those ‘old world antiques’

epilogue pic - link

Nick is playing this song! Takin’ a Chance - Hazel Scott

Something I think about a lot in fantasy worlds with lots of different exotic races,(mostly DnD, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fantasy franchise any near as many races as DnD) is how their cultures would handle jewelry, make up, or just general self-decoration.

Like, we humans have come up with all kinds of ways to pretty ourselves up, tattoos, hair dyes, piercings, rings, etc. But all of that stuff is based on our anatomy, some of it isn’t going to work for some races. And besides, why would other races/cultures use beautification techniques solely pioneered by humans? Surely they have their own based on their own cultures and bodies! Think of the possibilities!

Like, maybe Tieflings put piercings in the fleshy bits of their tails, to glam them up with jewelry! Or maybe they drill little holes in their horns, and string ribbons or small chains through them!

Or what about the Kenku! They’ve got nice shiny beaks and talons, what if they painted little designs on them, kind of like henna? Plus, they’ve got lots of feathers, maybe they could dye them? Or if they were feeling particularly adventurous, they dye their feathers to resemble other birds, like Bluejays, or Peacocks!

Orcs are pretty humanish for the most part, but the big thing that sets them apart, (aside from, ya know, being green,) is their tusks. I feel like the Orcs would be really into decorating their tusks. Maybe they’d put little caps made of precious metal on them, or paint them in Clan colors. Heck, maybe they’d even carve little symbols or runes into them. It would probably hurt like the dickens, but somehow I can’t imagine that stopping them. Lol

Speaking of carving, Tortles! I bet they carve all kinds of stuff into their shells! Or at the very least paint them! They’ve got a big ol’ canvas right on their backs, why not use them?

Tabaxi are covered in fur, making things like tattoos pretty difficult. After all, the point of a tattoo is to pigment your skin, and unless you shave it off, fur kinda makes that tricky. So what if they tattooed their paw pads? It’s basically the only exposed skin they have, except maybe the inside of their ears, which might be a bit too sensitive to tattoo. Also, I like the idea of Tabaxi painting their claws. They’re retractable, so you can’t see them most of the time, but on the occasion that a Tabaxi does decide to relieve someone of their face, at least they’ll be doing it in style!

Ever since the Rabbitfolk/Harengon (their the same thing, don’t worry about it,) were announced I’ve been thinking about bunnies with earrings. I mean, they’ve got so much ear real estate! Why not use it? Also, I imagine that those big flippy flops get in the way when you’re moving a lot, so I bet Rabbitfolk/Harengon use something like a hair tie, or something to their ears from flying around all over the place.

Centaurs! A cross between a horse and human! You know what that means? Caparisons baby! (For the record, Caparisons are those big fancy cloths knights used put on their horses. If you’ve seen a horse wearing something like a dress or a big skirt, that’s a Caparison. At least, according to my limited horse knowledge. Lol) It’s always struck me as a little strange then Centaurs were okay running around naked from the waste down, so this my answer to that. Fancy horse dresses! Also, I like to imagine that Centaur hair grows more like a horse’s mane than human hair, so really long, and tending to fall to one or the other side of their head. So maybe some Centaur cultures are really into braiding?

Minotaur time! Maybe it’s a bit stereotypical to imagine a Minotaur with a nose ring, but honestly it just fits in my brain. Maybe it has some kind of cultural significance, like maybe it acts the same way as a wedding ring, or maybe it denotes rank in their community. Another important bit are those big lovely horns! I can imagine all kinds of decorations on those bad boys! You could go simple, and just slap a few simple rings on there, or could a little more complex and do piercings,(Does it count as a piercing if it’s a horn?) and hang a bunch of dangly stuff on em! You could paint the horns, carve designs in them, heck, you could even drill holes in both horns, and run a chord or chain connecting them! All kinds of possibilities!

Finally, let’s talk lizards, specifically Dragonborn. Honestly, I can’t imagine Dragonborn painting their scales, or even wearing too much flashy jewelry. The impression I get from Dragonborn is that they are immensely proud of their Draconic heritage, and tampering too much with their scales would probably be seen as either disrespectful, or maybe even shameful.(Because why would you want to hide your scales, the single most visible sign of your glorious draconic lineage, unless you were disgusted by them, ashamed of them?) What I CAN see them doing is trying every possible way to show off and enhance their scales. Dragonborn would definitely take meticulous care of their scales, and that includes shining them up to make shine like a dang mirror. They might even use some kind of wax, or something to protect them from damage.

My point is, with all this rigamaroll I just spouted, is self expression should not be not limited to human sensibilities. No matter what they look like, these are people, and people aren’t manufactured on a conveyer belt. Get creative with your characters looks, take things like species, background, and culture into account, have fun with it!

My personal favorite use of the standard fantasy tropes is that all the stock characteristics of fantasy races are the stereotypes/caricatures the other races use for them. For instance:

Goblins

Stereotyped as thieving little tricksters with big noses and ears, but in reality they are extremely diverse, often to the point of not being related at all. Hobgoblins, Bugbears, traditional Goblins, Gnomes, Halflings, etc have all been called ‘goblin’ at one point or another, despite having very little in common. The thieving hordes idea comes from the fact that Goblin society is super socialist and they really don’t have a concept of personal property. The idea of locking a door in goblin society is alien, as everyone shares what they have. A goblin walking away with a set of silverware is less to do with greed, and more to do with the fact that their neighbor was complaining the other day about losing all their forks, and the goblin in question saw how many forks this tavern had, and decided to equal the scales a bit.

Dwarves

Dwarves are stereotyped as hard-drinking, dirt eating, greedy, hotheads. When you live underground rickets, anemia, and scurvy are all common, and displays of physical robustness become a cultural sign of status. At the end of the day Dwarves work well together, and drink a fairly normal amount, generally only drinking heavily among company. Dwarves are hospitable to a fault, and the way they show that is by engaging in eating and drinking in excess, to encourage similar behavior of their guests. A successful Dwarven feast ends with empty flagons and plates, and still full serving bowls. Stereotypes regarding digging greedily only come about from the twin facts that space is limited underground, necessitating regular expansion into newly built caverns, and in a magical world there are monsters all through the ground. And honestly, while the most famous Dwarven cities are subterranean, most live in hills, on cliff-sides, or on the rocky shores.

Orcs

Orcs are often stereotyped as unintelligent ravaging hordes who roll up to towns and wreak havoc. They steal away with women and children, rob livestock, and burn homes. Orcs in reality are generally nomadic. In the wide open plains, where water and food are scarce, to stay in place would mean certain doom, as their herds overgraze and soil water sources. Traditional Orcish clans have ancestral grazing lands millions of acres across. Distant corners may be visited only every decade. To graze on another’s land is a high crime among the orcs, as ever bite of browse is one stolen from the lifeblood of another clan. To prevent accidental trespass, Orcs have markers, large stones carved with jagged Orcish script. When humans (etc) wander into Orcish Land, they build farms and towns, and the Orcs feel they are in their right to remove them. Humans who are ‘stolen’ by Orcs are often just guests. In the open desert, Orcs can find water easily, and have plentiful food. They are eager to trade their fine leather goods and horn bows for goods from afar. Orcs also maintain cities, far flung and small, based on elaborate commerce. Each clan maintains a Great House in the city, and any Orc unfit to ride a Warg will stay there taking care of the family finances, trading goods, and teaching the young. Orcs of any gender ride, hunt, and herd with equal success, as a result an Orcish patrol might look very much like an army of large men to a human settlement, especially when that same party demands they leave their home and offer some settlement for their robbery.

Elves

Elves are stereotyped as haughty, distant, and immortal. While Elves are long lived, they are anything but immortal. The myth comes from Elvish naming conventions, and their religious connection to family history. Elves have given names, but rarely use them after the death of a parent, at which point the eldest same-gender child of a nuclear family will almost always adopt the ancient family name, and carry it, along with the history it is tied to. Elves think very generationally, always seeking answers in the future and past, digging through ancient tomes and burying themselves in study. Elvish librarians and scholars keep extremely detailed notes on present goings on, and as a result Elvish scholarship has a very black-and-white view of the past, informed by very deliberate attempts to remove bias. Elves generally don’t correct folks who think they are centuries or millennia older than they are, because the Elvish idea of the self is a very dispersed one, where every individual is, in a way, their ancestors. Perceived haughtiness of emotional distance arises from the fact that, to an elf, the past is settled, and the present is best lived through a mindset of calm, stoic inspection. To react with sudden, poorly thought-out, or overly emotional haste is to betray your ancestors, past and future.

quick hancock and valentine doodle

types of fantasy subgenres - writing help

high / epic fantasy - a genre of fantasy that holds its own world and creatures. examples of this could be J.R.R. Tolkien's LOTR, or C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia

low fantasy - a genre where there are regular magical happenings in "our" world—such as a magical school, or people with magical abilities. this could be found in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, or Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away

urban fantasy - essentially low fantasy, only it takes place in an urban setting such as a big city. an example of this is Cassandra Clare's City of Bones

sword and sorcery - fantasy that is centred around swords, magic, and witchcraft. it is a subgenre of high fantasy. a book is Robert E. Howard's Conan series

dark fantasy - fantasy elements mixed with horror. The Atlas Six, by Olivia Blake

fable - a story with a moral lesson

arthurian fantasy - anything derived from the tales of King Arthur (the Sword in the Stone, etc.)

crosswords fantasy - essentially where the main character crosses between their world and a fantasy world. an example of this could be Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

dragon fantasy - what it sounds like.

historical fantasy - a cross between the historical fiction and low fantasy subgeneres. it could be set in a royal court filled with goblins, for example, in a time that was once present on earth.

Types of wizard:

Demigod

Minor god

Just some asshole with a stick

Just some asshole with a stick immortal edition

Just some asshole with a stick necromancer edition

Biology major

Teen protagonist

Drug dealer

Undead asshole with a stick

Physics major

God’s most favorite little special guy who’s gonna save the world yes he is

Guy in a van

Drug dealer in a van

Preteen protagonist

Cool professor

Bad professor

Python programmer

Climate change scientist

Functionally an archer with extra steps

Man behind the curtain

Literally just Merlin

Based on @just-another-ghoul-lover 's post here, I wanted to throw in my two cents on ghouls, but I didn't wanna take over their post nor make it look like I think they're wrong, which they aren't canonically.

But, since when have I ever let canon stop me?

My HC is more like what we get in Fallout 4: ghouls are more like horribly scarred by the radiation, but not in a constant state of rotting. If their ability to heal is keeping them alive, then eventually that healing will win out. I figure ghouls are also prone to losing other bits of themselves when injured and such, and let's face it, in 200+ years a lot of injury can happen. And, I like that some ghouls keep their hair for whatever reason, or if they didn't, I mean, if Deacon can get surgery to change his face very other week, why not hair transplants for ghouls? Or just wigs, if you want. Either way, everyone is different and it stands to reason, at least in my HC, that ghoulification is different for everyone. With Hancock's coming from an experimental drug, I feel like his body is reacting a totally different way, just like I think that Eddie Winter probably should've looked a little more unique as well.

As far as being radiated, radiation degrades over time. Hence the whole idea that eventually you can actually leave a vault - even if Vault Tec never intended that to happen in some cases. I can see it being low level radiation in ghouls, but thing is at this point, they are either about the same as the background radiation that the whole world exists in - so not much of a problem to people around them who already deal with it daily - or it's just enough to warrant some worry and keep Rad-Away around.

I don't think the more intelligent ghouls smell awful more than intensely musky, which isn't a smell everyone likes. And, it's worse when they're wet. So, if you don't like wet brahmin smell, you probably don't like ghouls. Intelligent ghouls, I feel, probably try to take care of themselves as much as possible. I mean, Daisy, for instance, strikes me as someone who is probably rather fastidious about it. And, there are ways to mask smells.

Feral ghouls, on the other hand, do not take care of any hygiene and will eat anything that moves which means they are constantly covered in gore, so they smell absolutely like dead things. Bodies who exist in that manner absolutely will start to rot after a while. Especially if they injure themselves and don't tend it, which they won't, so they get infections which causes more rot. So, I mean, being around ferals will absolutely make certain people jump to the assumption all ghouls smell that way, especially if they're racist against ghouls to begin with.

And, hey, again, I know my HC isn't canon, and I'm okay with that. I am also okay with people preferring to stick with canon. That in itself offers some interesting ideas in ghoul/human relations.