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My girlfriend also suggested that you should take into consideration how some parts might be of display for mating (ultra theeth). If something like this does even happen in Zerg race cO, some lore nerd here? :D They could, like former elephants or animals with antlers, work as a presentation for "strength" in terms of size.
And do maybe the wings of lings work in a different fashion than normal insects wings does? I always imagine they use the wings to kinda give them a nitro-boost, considering a lot of sc plays in space it could be more logical if they use them as an forward-moving-enhachment device.
Edit: and of course AWESOME read :D
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Great and VERY nerdy read! Love it! Hope there will be some more soon!
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MOAR!!! Was fun reading =)
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Nice work. Read it all
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On September 07 2012 20:36 bluQ wrote: My girlfriend also suggested that you should take into consideration how some parts might be of display for mating (ultra theeth). If something like this does even happen in Zerg race cO, some lore nerd here? :D They could, like former elephants or animals with antlers, work as a presentation for "strength" in terms of size.
And do maybe the wings of lings work in a different fashion than normal insects wings does? I always imagine they use the wings to kinda give them a nitro-boost, considering a lot of sc plays in space it could be more logical if they use them as an forward-moving-enhachment device.
Edit: and of course AWESOME read :D
Even if it's not for mating for Zerg units, it may be a trait which is inherited from the original host creature, that the transformation didn't get rid of
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Concerning the spikes and such, maybe they are there for scaring other enemies. Of course other zerg army won't be, but thinking about protoss and terrans, you have to consider morale and phsicology when facing them.
Maybe the Ultra's teeth serve no real purpose, but I will be really afraid of that. "Look at the size of that teeth!!" fits pretty well when looking at an Ultra.
After all, the zerg are an evolutionary race, but with rational design on the backup, so queens and cerebrates put and take away characteristics at will.
Nonetheless, great writing there, I will read the whole series.
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I would think that the zerg have no need for superfluous mating structures. So I doubt that they really use them- any remaining from the original animals would be vestigial at best. The zerg wings need a muscle attachment site that is strong in order to provide any kind of assist to their leaping gait. It is just logical to move them away from the double limb girdle there in order to provide more area for a functional muscle group.
As far as the intimidation factor, yeah I can see that coming into play especially with Terrans in mind. I doubt the Ultra would need to add extra teeth in order to look fearsome, being that it's outrageously big and the nature of the kaiser blades really lends itself to be scary as hell. I am thinking that the spikes and whatnot on the carapace which don't have an immediate obvious purpose must be for zerg on zerg or zerg on wild animal (as it would no doubt happen) combat.
Glad you are all enjoying it! Remember to tell me what you want to read about next!
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On September 07 2012 21:12 Ponera wrote: Glad you are all enjoying it! Remember to tell me what you want to read about next!
Roach? Or Hydra, because you already mentioned its mandibles?
Generally, how possible is it that the Zerg creatures have some features from their previous species that are not useful in their current form? I am not an expert, but maybe the human coccyx is an example for that as a remnant of a tail.
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On September 07 2012 21:35 papalion wrote: Generally, how possible is it that the Zerg creatures have some features from their previous species that are not useful in their current form? I think that, even if you make the best tuning on any car, you are still restricted to the main frame and configuration.
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Interesting read, keep up the good work!
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Honestly, as a biologist myself I don't get how you dismiss the possibility of the Zergling being a vertebrate. I would clearly say it is vertebrate, judging by the dorsal focus, the long tail and the lack of segmentation.
The carapace looks more leathery than scaly, so you could compare it to carnivore birds or mammals. I agree, that it was WAY too many limbs, but much of your criticism seems overly harsh.
The eyes are at least oriented forward and grant a good depth perception in the spot not obscured by their protruding nosebridge. They are also lense eyes and if you like you can attribute the red glow to a reflective retina similar to the cat-eye effect. Probably a dusk/dawn predator.
If you run with the vertebrate thingy, the jaw-claws must be extremely flexible, maybe even retractable/extendable, judging from the mass of skin material. So while the zergling uses his teeth to grip and hold the prey, these claws punch holes and do the damage.
The long 'inner claws' protruding from the shoulder over the head are not well designed. You could imagine they being used as a grappling hook to attach to a large prey after a jump to stay close to vital areas. But they are anchored way to fragile and probably just fracture with most stress.
The wings might have an additional joint that we cannot see (located between the hip-plates and the back in the picture) so they can unfurl above the hip plates for gliding. But that seems impractical and unlikely. They might be used as additional propulsion buffeting air directly to the back in an up and down movement. But they seem pretty worthless and they increase the limb count a ton and would come with many vulnerable joints.
The legs are fine, though the orientation of the front claw is would hinder sprinting unless nearly fully retractable ( for which there is no space in the foot). Hind leg seems fine.
Overall I'd say there are too many limbs. Remove those stupid overhead-claw-sticks and at least one pair of wings. They wings should be gliding membranes protruding from the leg area. And get rid of those ridiculous front claws and replace them with something sensible. You already have enough weapons and these jaw-claws for slashing.
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Cute little piece. Thanks for the read.
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Thrombo: Glad you contributed! Yeah it is overwhelmingly vertebrate, but they do go out of their way to refer to zerg as insectoid. I think the front claws are fine, assuming it's got a kangaroo-like form of saltation. The large claw on the back leg makes it less versatile than could be, as pointed out. I really like that you pointed this stuff out, I hope you continue to share your opinion on anything I write, as the discussion is more fun than the write up itself imo! The face claws I didn't think were flexible at all, but they may well be. I don't see where the musculature for a strong puncturing mechanism would be housed though, especially if the zergling has some strong masseter-like muscles at the back of the jaw, which you'd assume they would if they are biting to puncture and hold prey with those teeth of theirs.
It was brought up on the bnet forums that the outer jaw "Hydralisk Effect" is perhaps a trait that they can't 'get rid of', which is when it was debated just how adept the zerg are at genetic manipulation. You'd think if they can turn a brontolith into an ultralisk they can figure out how to turn off the alleles for specific genes, eviscerador. It's just overall inconsistent, either they are masters as blizzard claims they are or they aren't. Some traits would be easier to get rid of and some would just become vestigial, sure, but the hydralisk derp jaw is present in many zerg forms, meaning that it's more likely to be a base trait from the original zerg strain...yet that would mean that it is surely something that has been most heavily modified.
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Actually, where do they go out of the way to refer to zerg as insectoid? Yes, many are and the general organization with the hive-mind structure points that way. But they clearly state that the different zerg strains in the swarm come from different animals assimilated, so they would belong to different groups.
Jaw-claw related: the skin/muscle folds only make sense if the appendage holding the claw is either pure muscle (tounge like) or supported by a spongy body instead of a bone. Then you could set muscles accordingly for flexibility. But I agree it's a problem. Maybe the perspective is just bad and what looks like a purple throat sack are actually the muscles?
Being versed in genetics I can tell you that it's not that easy as to "switch off the jaw-claw" allel. If you think about the races fusing upon assimilation, the claw may very well be a basic part of the body plan. Similar how spiders cannot switch off 2 'leg allels' if they only need 6 legs. The current for may just be an atavism.
Also I'm not sure, if the zerg evolution is really done by direct genetic manipulation and gene design but rather by a rapid breeding process.
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Good points. I assume the face claw is covered by the carapace. I think their evolution is gene manipulation since they dont really breed. If they are masters of gebetic manipulation and if the face claw is controlled by hox genes the switch off could be easy. If not they could simply remove the face claw stepwise or at least make an exaptation of it.
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This is incredible, keep the posts coming!
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Hox genes are for the segmentation. You would have to modify or delete quite a few hox sensitive genes that derive their positional information from the hox-group.
I always viewed zerg more as a hyper evolution race where the overmind radically selects which material to continue for breeding.
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On September 08 2012 00:46 Thrombozyt wrote: Hox genes are for the segmentation. You would have to modify or delete quite a few hox sensitive genes that derive their positional information from the hox-group.
I always viewed zerg more as a hyper evolution race where the overmind radically selects which material to continue for breeding. I think it's clear that no "breeding" as such is taking place, given that all known Zerg creatures except for the Queen are adult forms of larva produced by an unknown mechanism of the Hatchery, with all differentiation taking place after the larva's genesis. It always seemed to me that it was strongly implied that Zerg were generated by genetic modification rather than by any kind of breeding program. Their assimilation of Kerrigan would support that too, would it not, since they obviously modified her directly rather than enlisting her in a rapid breeding program (a choice that has denied the community a huge amount of fan-fiction).
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Quick photoshop of a dumbed down zergling...just for fun to see how it might look with some of the suggestions you've mentioned. I removed the "stupid overhead-claw-sticks" and the wings, made the tail less flimsy, and large claw on back leg gone.
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