From: tmohler+@cs.cmu.edu (Tim Mohler)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Unique Races
Date: 1 Jan 93 22:44:13 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

In article <1992Dec28.171450.26963@julian.uwo.ca> jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll) writes:
>In article <darknite.725523045@camelot> darknite@camelot.bradley.edu (John S. Novak III) writes:
>>What's a more reasonable special effect for an insectile
>>intelligence than a hive mind...?

It's reasonable, but not the only one. Since insects have six legs,
intelligent insects might have four manipulators, or possibly two
"legs" to "arms" and two feeler-thingies that do neato things 
like smell, taste or whatnot. You might borrow from arachnids, and
give them segmented eyes... I believe this is covered in
GURPS Aliens.

>	There was a recent article in Scientific American about
>caterpillars which guide the behavior of insect  through manipulation
>of chemical signals. One could imagine a culture of eiis which used
>similar chemical tricks  to domesticate other invertebrate species,
>resulting in eii pastoral societies. Other uses of chemicals might
>be exploited: human(oid)s might find themselves addicted to
>or poisoned by chemical products of the eiis.

Indeed. Entire separate insect world/societies. There is no
reason that perhaps there would be a top insect-species similar
to humans that farms and cultivates. Perhaps it rides large
insect species, etc etc. Perhaps they have prejudices based on
chitin-patterns, and view mammals as exotic sex-objects, or
perhaps as dusgusting things like we view insects. Possibilities
here, people.

>	Of course, there's no reason  that the eiis would understand
>human(oid) communications, and both  groups might regard each other
>as 'telepathic', in the sense of having means of communication not
>easily understandable by other species.

It seems reasonable that we could develop some sort of sign
langauge. Bees recognize dances, after all. Magic could supply
the original dictionary and grammar of both...

To expand a bit -

not only are insects a wonderful place to draw from, but reptiles,
amphibians, and dinosuars are as well.

Komodo dragons, the largest real-world land-dwelling reptiles
(saltwater crocs get bigger, but I'm not sure if they are
true reptiles..) are comparitively very social. They hunt in
packs, and do complex tasks such as taking note of pregnancies,
and waiting for the birth, so as to get a twofer as it were.

If they kept developing, perhaps through magic, they might
also evolve societies, or perhaps loners but intelligent.
If they kept their cold-bloodedness, they would be vulnerable
to warm-blooded people, but would kick butt in areas where
game is scarce (they can fast for months) or other inhospitable
areas. 

There are true salamanders who have neither lungs or gills - they
"breathe" through their skin and mucous membranes.Most
amphibians, however, can live in water or on moist land, so
they could be a real advantage for a party to have in
certain circumstances. Etc.

And dinosaurs, well... dinosauria included many many different
species and types of animals. Some appear to have been
warm-blooded, while others were definitely cold-blooded.
Some were HUGE, some were tiny, most were in between. Some
evolved into birds, so you have some leeway there, too.
Dinosauria is chock-full of possibilities.

And finally, you can make things not at all like we have here.
What would happen if there is a large source of say methane on
your planet? You might make some methane-breathing races, like
the Knnn in the Chanur books. Or chlorine-beathers. Or non-carbon
based life-forms. Base 'em on reactive metals (fuck realism here).

Sorry about the length....

Tim