Race The Arachneidi

The sprites and lore are most of what I'm working on atm. I'll be making an update fairly soon, since I've had some recent inspiration. Not entirely sure what I'll do to add to the furniture and construction. I feel like adding more blocks wouldn't be helpful and the pillars seem fine, so things like rolled-up carpets and scroll cases and things would be next.

 

An Update!~
Added info about the melee weapons preferred by the Arachneidi, notably the Urumi, Katar, Bagh Nahk, Glaive, and Scimitar. Believe it or not, the Urumi is a real-life sword-whip made of flexible metal, and is probably the most interesting and significant weapon among these.

View new armor sprites in the OP, as well.

 

So if they were implemented into this game I'd assume there wouldn't be very much villages of these people, and if there was they'd be quite deep underground?

 

I had a curious thought. I'm not sure if it's been brought up, but what happens to their mandibles (mouth parts) when they wear something? Do they just stick out? Will there have to be a helmet customized to each jaw... mandible... pincer thing? They're not soft and malleable and shavable like hair.

 

Speaking of, wouldn't eating and drinking be a hassle if your mouth was located at the top of your head, above your eyes? Perhaps evolutionary pressures could have the mouth gradually lower itself in-between the sets of eyes until it's located comfortably below the eyes?

 

I imagine their villages would be primarily underground, yes, but they would only need to be just below the surface. They only went underground to avoid direct sunlight, so they could build their settlements into the sides of mountains, hills, cliffs, and canyons. I imagine their villages being about as common as the other races because even though they avoided interstellar travel for a few centuries, they more-or-less gave up after making first contact because they realized it was inevitable.

I mean, I imagine that if they made first contact with the Avians, they probably told the Arachneidi a little bit about the Glitch and the Florans, possibly even the Apex, Humans, and Hylotl, and by that point the Arachneidi would realize the universe is FULL of explorers and that it's only a matter of time before there are all kinds of foreign things knocking on their doorstep. It'd be foolish to sequester themselves, so they cautiously gave into the lightside despite holding firmly to darkside philosophy.

It's just buried inside the massive amounts of info in the OP:

Mandibles are hard pincers found on most insects, but chelicerae are flexible parts that are tipped with fangs.
In most cases the headgear replaces the chelicerae, but I've also made some headgear that allows them to be visible.
They most certainly can not be shaved off... And heck, there are several mid-east religions that don't allow shaving.

It might be a hassle if you didn't grow up eating like that for your entire life. Actually, I kinda like the imagery of an Arachneidan dinner party, each of them lifting food over their heads and nibbling at it. It might seem awkward to the other races, but chopsticks seemed very awkward when colonists from western Europe first visited eastern Asia. In fact, an Arachneid might wonder why Humans didn't evolve to have their mouths comfortably above their eyes.

I really like the fact that they have "horns", and that they are essentially backwards, inside-out, and upside-down. Everything about them is extremely alien, and yet they are totally humanoid in overall shape. That's what I think makes them original even though they are technically another animal race. While the Jorougumo of Japanese mythology is technically an anthro-animal, most people consider it to be "monster-girl" type instead of furry.

 

This is a prototype for an Arachneidan light fixture, and I am working on more. This one is designed to float suspended in mid-air, and instead of producing light directly it will refract and magnify it. Basically, if you shine another source of light on it, this one will light up as well. By chaining these together, you can light an entire base using only natural light, or perhaps the light from your flashlight.

I'm calling them Refractor Pylons, for now.

Some types can even be used to form damaging beams of highly focused light, which can be used to guard doorways or create traps. You can also use these beams to send light to a distant Refractor Pylon without using as many in the chain. They come in different colors and intensity, and some of them are Orbs instead of Crystals. The largest and most powerful ones produce a particle effect that can light up an extremely large area, but require more light to activate.

 

Wow, they look amazing!

 

YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITION PYLONS!

 

SHUT UP ALDARIS! ITS WARPING IN AS WE SPEAK!

Here's my second prototype.

I was thinking about how the refractors might be coded, and then realized there could be a potential problem. If you placed two together, and activated them, then the light from one would keep the other one lit and vice-versa, meaning they might remain lit even without an outside light source. Since this was not my intention, I was thinking you could instead link them together (much like the current "wiring" system links devices) and that the entire chain would be lit if there was enough non-pylon-light shining on one piece of the chain. I was thinking that to distinguish pylon-light from non-pylon-light, the pylon-light could have a slightly different hue or something. I'm not sure how the lighting engine currently works, so it is hard to think of how to solve this potential problem.

 

I will sacrifice my newborn for this suggestion!

Starcraft much?

 

I really like the evolution of the race! More original and thought prevoking.

 

More than much.

Get this: The Protoss are also based on Indian culture. The Khala that the Protoss worship is actually based on the Hindu concept of Atman/Brahman. The Psi Blades used by Zealots are based on the Katar, an Indian weapon. They even use the caste system (the Khalai Caste, Templar Caste, and Judicator Caste). The Dark Templar are outcastes as well, like the Dalit outcastes of India.

I was thinking the crystals could just be called "refractors", but then people would just say I was fangirling for Mega Man Legends.

EDIT: Oh, and more sprites. This time I made one that was inspired by the Cerpine.

 

Could that really be a bad thing? No harm in being inspired by something, and Legends is the kind of game you can get a lot of inspiration from.

 

Of course, I love Legends, but I also love Starcraft, so I decided to pay homage to both!

Now introducing the Refractor Pylon Rupee, worth 500 dollars, won by defeating that stupid bird that steals your gilded sword.

It gives off a luminous particle effect that radiates in all directions, extending the range of the light it gives.

I'm starting to feel stagnant. I'd make weapon animations for the Katar and Urumi, but I have no clue how the weapon animations will work when the game is released. Instead I might make some crystal-based ranged weaponry. Maybe I could make something like the Gandiva, from the Bhagavad Gita. It fired bolts of lightning, and came with two inexhaustible quivers, so it fits the technological theme rather well.

By the way, if anyone missed it-- The Successor mentioned in the part about their politics is basically a Caliph, but I didn't want to use the term Caliph because it is technically a part of Islam, referring to the incarnation of Muhammad.

I was also thinking that a popular sect in their religion believes that Fortitu is the result of dividing a number by zero. Basically, if you are dividing your self into nothing, you become one with everything. I'm also rather surprised nobody has caught on to this little joke.

 

Is it just me, or does the 4th and 5th sprites with armor (from the bottom) resemble Terra and Aqua's armor from Birth By Sleep? xD
http://images.wikia.com/kingdomhearts/images/a/a5/Armored_Terra_Art.png
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110826004824/kingdomhearts/images/8/85/Armored_Aqua_Art.png

 

I'm so glad you noticed. I made a few changes, but they were inspired by Birth By Sleep. I didn't make a third one because Ventus is lame.

 

They fit almost seamlessly with the armor pieces because of the "pincer" or stag-horn type protrusions on the helmets, I support this fully. (and second the Ventus comment).

 

I really like the eastern/arabic/byzantine flair. Very cool!

 

You mean like the new ones I just finished? I'm not sure if I changed quite enough to avoid copyright infringement on these ones...