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Ric-M — Mothuan Concept Dump
#alien #alienspecies #conceptart #conceptdesign #moth #sketchdump #mothuan #scififantasy
Published: 2018-08-03 20:01:13 +0000 UTC; Views: 10624; Favourites: 312; Downloads: 34
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Description
A concept dump with more tidbits for my alien race, the Mothuans, who’s initial base designs can be found here:
There are definitely things I’d like to cover in more detail later on, such as concepts for their planetary caretakers the “Chims”, designs for their ships, home planet, etc. so this is a first draft introduction for some ideas.
Anyway, here is the original description I wrote for their profile:
The Mothuans are a generally peaceful race of bipedal insectoids who share their homeworld Motakhnae with giant intelligent plants known as Chims. These sentient plants have guided the Mothuans for many generations, helping the Mothuans grow food for themselves and uplifting them from primitive tribes to an advanced, space faring civilization. Most Mothuans are typically farmers or agricultural scientists and many of them can be found in outposts and settlements within the galactic community as well as the fringes of space.
Their society is driven by ecology- many Mothuans believe in sustaining a balance of taking as well as giving back to their planet and their colonies and do not believe in over-exploiting them for greed. Their technological advancements are focused heavily on agriculture and the environment, leaving their military capabilities underdeveloped or virtually non-existent, so they rely on contracting other armies to protect their fleets and systems from space pirates and raiders or entrust the defense of their colonies with temporary militias.
Despite their heavy focus on ecology they have also proven themselves to be decent merchants and scientists. While most other races view Mothuans as nothing more than introverted farmers and traders, they still have a good reputation nonetheless for their generally peaceful nature but also for the courage and hardiness of their colonization volunteers.
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Comments: 76
Thanks!
I'm working on the introduction for my other alien species but I will come back to these guys for sure ^^
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This was awesome, great job! I especially like the last picture with the female Mouthuan munching! Deadly adorable!
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Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it
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Ahh! So pretty! So fluffy! I love this race of yours!
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Yes, I have the game
But I never finished it though
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I do find it interesting how most of the insects in the game are adorable in their own way, even some of the ones you wouldn't normally find cute.
Just thought I'd bring it up because you're also making something about cute insects.
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Yeah I agree, the insects and art style for the game are definitely unique- spooky, yet cute.
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I really like these critters. ^v^ I feel like most peoples would be happy to welcome them.. They seem like the type of critters who would end up fairly well defended on the grand scale just based on the number of allies they'd have, and could end up being key negotiators friendly to most factions when conflicts com up. They might not always be happy about, but I get the feeling they might be very good at it. ^v^
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Thank you ^^
You nailed it. In theory that's how I envision their position in the galaxy would be. True they wouldn't always be happy about every arrangement but they would prefer to avoid large conflicts. Maybe they try to remain neutral as much as possible, and perhaps their neutrality sours some key relations or alliances with opposing alien factions, putting them in a more precarious situation than they realize.
That's definitely something I will try to play around with in regards to another bug-like alien race I'm working on, the Kharnuvians:
The Kharnuvians are the opposite of the Mothuans since they are a more military and imperial geared race. I am still deciding what their history with each other would be but I'm leaning towards possible open conflict during first contact and eventual peace when the Kharnuvians realized the Mothuans were not a threat and maybe the Mothuans formed an alliance with them out of necessity to cover their military weaknesses.
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I get the feeling that, though sometimes their insistence on military neutrality can cause some awkwardness, their status of being fairly peaceful and of probably being very valuable allies in order to keep stable supply lines for combat would help mitigate hostility. Depending on how widespread they are, and how much they've gone and ingrained themselves into food production everywhere, it's possible that making them unhappy could lead to dramatically restricted access to food. This would also give them the ability to sanction hostile parties in order to encourage peaceful resolutions to those issues. More radical factions might not like them a lot of the time, but more neutral groups would probably appreciate them. ^v^
I would guess that initially it would be an interesting situation where early contact would have the Kharnuvians see them as simply another faction to take over or wipe out (depending on their preference). After a while, either the Mothuans show that they're a little harder to beat down than that, or the Kharnuvians get a bit spooked by the sheer number of factions that they might have gotten upset at them by attacking an overall friendly and helpful partner. They might then have decided to help protect the Mothuans as well, and benefit from whatever trading network they'd established.
I mean, I'm missing some timeline of interaction data about when they made contact versus when the Mothuans started having an influence, though you did say they were an uplifted species, so it could have happened surprisingly early. I just don't know. '^v^ You probably have some clue. ^v^
Sorry for the wall of text, by the way. '^v^
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Oh no it's okay, I certainly enjoyed reading it ^^
Your first paragraph is once again on point- I like the idea of them being able to pull the strings so to speak, by controlling the access of their food exports to certain allies/factions in order to gain favorable diplomatic outcomes. Yeah and I figure neutral groups definitely would appreciate them for helping maintain the status quo too 
Second paragraph: I can see either outcome being a possibility, but the first one sounds more interesting in my opinion if the moths were able to hold their own, and perhaps hold their ground until eventually earning the respect of the Kharnuvians and a ceasefire is declared. The conflict would give more credit to the Mothuan's for their bravery and tenacity when defending their territories, maybe changing the opinions of some that they aren't just treehugging space hippies.
Lastly- I have a vague chronology of the history in my head lol xD The ideas I have written down are all over the place but my goal is to eventually piece them all together so I can set up a backdrop of the universe for the characters.
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Yay! ^v^
Oh, certainly not the only ones involved in food production, but major enough, and likely friendly enough with the others involved, that them withdrawing support would have major impacts both practically and politically on whoever ticked them off.
..... You know, I could see them being very strong in more defensive warfare, able to hold sieges long enough that it just becomes too expensive to continue, valuing their people enough to invest in making them very hard to actually kill, and extending that to their vehicles, buildings, and other resources as well, making it actually really hard to "bleed" them out in terms of resources. Especially with how the Kharnuvians like to use large numbers of low grade soldiers to cover a few elite officers. Their expendables are still resources, and if any of their actual warriors are lost, it's a big deal. Yes, the Kharnuvians are more warlike, but they might not always feel the need to be that efficient at it, especially if they're used to winning and coming out net positive anyway. ^v^
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That's a very good point
I'm thinking that by the time the Kharnuvians make contact with the Mothuans, the Kharnuvian military would be a highly efficient machine but perhaps the hubris of the commanders and poor strategic decisions in underestimating the moths is what led to some humiliating defeats.
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Absolutely. In fact, a few early defeats by the moths before they get their strategies worked out would probably make that hubris even worse, and mean that the Kharnuvians would do things like over-invest in ground presence or other things like that, which become VERY costly if things go wrong. Heck, if they're used to just dramatically out-teching their opponents, and suddenly run into a faction with a similar tech level, or that on the surface looks to be lower tech than they actually are, a lot of sloppy low-cost tactics might be used, that become high-cost once actual losses start happening.
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I'll give a fuller reply later once I'm actually free from work. Voluntary overtime right now. '^v^
It makes sense with how diplomacy tends to play out. Also, thanks for more neat critter profiles for me to fave! ~v^ Your critters are awesome! ^v^
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(giggles) It's awesome that you're so responsive, by the way, and happy to let us know how you've been thinking of stuff. Not all artists do that! ^v^ I've enjoyed talking with you about your stuff!
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No problem! Likewise I liked hearing your insights so far. I've always been a fan of sci-fi/fantasy so talking about the nerdy stuff is something I really enjoy haha.
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(giggles) I'm happy you like my thoughts! ^v^ I'll be sure to keep talking to you in the future!
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Looks like they would be cool to make as a race for RimWorld. Like high-tech Apinis 
Apini Race: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles…
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I love RimWorld ^^
And that's pretty cool. I haven't paid much attention to mods for the game but the Apini Race looks like an interesting one to try.
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I have been modding RimWorld quite a long time now. Even had a minor hand in that Apini mod with the honey making and mood buff mechanic from wearing blue clothing.
Once you start with one mod you suddenly have 50 xD.
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Lol I hear ya xD That ended up being the case for me when I used to play Skyrim.
But that's cool that you helped make that mod, I'll definitely subscribe to it if I get a chance to play the game again.
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You are welcome and here's a flower 🌸
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I've recently been playing more Endless Space 2, and this is beginning to look more and more like that game.
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I own the game too, it's definitely one of my more recent inspirations
I left it alone for a while until I found out that they just released the Hissho as a playable faction, my favorite one from the first game along with the Sheredyn.
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I didn't play the first game, but I checked out the races for that game recently, and I hear you.
My favourite so far is the Vodyani. Quite useful being able to instantly settle an entire system's planets in the click of a button--provided you have an Ark in the system, and you have the technology to settle the planets there of course.
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