Alien Morphology

Query: What do Voinians look like?

This has probably been asked to death before, but I really can't be bothered to sift through fifty pages of seach matches to find out if it has.

In EVO, the physical descriptions of the various non-human races are largely left to the imagination. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, I've been left wondering what exactly they all look like.

Now, I know that there is no "official" right or wrong anwser (unless PAC decides to stop by and spill the beans), so I'd like to read your imaginative conjurations to fill in for what you thought they (The Voinians, Miranu, Strands, etc etc) might look like.

I don't know why, but I've always imagined that Voinians looked like Klingons. I imagine them having some of that forehead bone structure though not as much as the Klingons, and they have grey skin. The grey skin idea comes from Reign of the UE, when the Admiral reveals that he's half Voinian after a nearly life-threatening situation weakens him to the point where his Voinian side becomes obvious, including the grey skin.

I imagine the Miranu being basically humanoid, though slenderer than us and longer limbed. I imagine them having a lot more variety in skin color too.

Personally, I've always thought Voinians have the following features:

Red-Gray Skin
A diamond-shaped head with a sort of whip-like appendage on top
A long, smooth, lizard-like tail, about 30-40% their height.

The Zidagar:

Since it says they're essentially the closest thing to humans, I've pictured them as looking almost like a human, except they have a purplish tint to their skin, and their eyes are completely yellow. The tint varies from being barely noticeable to a deep violet.

Azdgari:

Overall Reptilian features
The head structure is similar to their signature fighter, the Azdara
Deep green, or emerald-colored skin
A tail about 20-30% their height

Igadzra:

Face looks like Babidi from Dragon Ball Z
Yellow skin
Generally skinny

Miranu:

I never really thought about the guys who want to trade with everyone, but I've always seen them as having light blue skin.

Elmagha:

Again, never really thought about them. I haven't even thought about what skin they'd have.

Hinwar:

See above.

Actually, the Igadzra, Zidagar, and Azdgari are members of the same race. And if we took your extrapolations, humans would be bulbous grey creatures with little blue dots and sharp, pointy, red appendages.

@ue_research---development, on Jan 23 2009, 04:18 PM, said in Alien Morphology:

Actually, the Igadzra, Zidagar, and Azdgari are members of the same race. And if we took your extrapolations, humans would be bulbous grey creatures with little blue dots and sharp, pointy, red appendages.

Wha? :huh:

I don't remember seeing that anywhere...

One minute while I get thee appropriate post from PAC...

Here it is:

View Postpac AKA Peter Cartwright, on Dec 9 2006, 08:52 PM, said:

Okay, I may post a longer timeline at a later date, but I can give a brief history of the Council fairly easily.

**About 10 000 years before the start of Override, the Strand species is just beginning to explore space from its original homeworld which (as is widely known) was Gadzair. But just as these tentative steps are being taken, Gadzair suffers a hugely destructive planet-wide war, wiping out almost everyone on the homeworld - only a very few members of the species survive.

Some of these come together to form something they call the Council, which asks the question: how can we ensure that our species is never put at such risk of total extinction again?

If we unite in just one empire, what if it falls apart internally in some way, and the whole thing collapses?

If we form two groups, they will always be at odds with each other, and might destroy the whole species in their efforts to overcome one another.

So the best long term solution they could come up with was to found the three 'Strands': if one gained an advantage, both the other two would work against it; even if one could destroy another, it wouldn't, in the knowledge that this might leave it vulnerable to the third. Of course, this couldn't be a perfect balance - it was possible one Strand might become strong enough to overwhelm both the others - but the Council remained in existence, and could intervene secretly to even things out when it seemed necessary.

This knowledge was not recorded amongst those who went out to form the Strands - so that they would not know that their war could never be won. But the Council still knew, and the Council would place agents amongst the Strands - who might often reach high positions - who did know the truth, and could act to ensure that the most destructive potential plots were sabotaged or leaked to another Strand.

Thus the Council's solution to ensuring the eternal survival (and dynamism) of their species was a permanent triangular war.**

The Strandless, expelled by the Strands, also acted as a back-up option for the Council - other minor branches which could help ensure the survival of the species.

One of the things the Council worried about a lot was outside interference - might some aliens appear who would devastate the species? Or even do so accidentally, by destabilising the Strand war? Crescent space could always be influenced by the Council, with their agents everywhere, but new arrivals were unpredictable and uncontrollable.

Contact was made with lots of minor species (eg, the Kayans of the South Tip), who had no real impact at all. The first major species contacted was the Miranu. The Council were very suspicious of them, but they were peaceful, happy to trade with all the Strands more or less equally, so this in the end caused few problems.

But, at the time of EV: Override, more and more adventurous human pilots (like the player) are arriving in the Crescent, and - tempted by high technology and hard cash - are getting involved in the Strand war.

The three central objectives are, as much as anything else, the three biggest plot triggers for planned future events - in the case of the Strand War, causing the Council to say, 'Enough is enough', and act on a huge scale, bringing about the biggest shake-up to the whole system for 10 000 years �

But more about that tomorrow.

In other words, the Zidagar, the Azdgari and the Igadzra (i.e. The Strands) are the same species.

This post has been edited by Eugene Chin : 24 January 2009 - 02:42 PM

One could argue, though, that maybe over those 10,000 years, their physiological appearances changed to be more easily distinguishable from the other two races.

Homo Sapiens has existed for about 100,000 years; human civilization, for maybe 10,000.

The evolution argument falls flat under such short, short periods.

Any physical differences between the Strands would ultimately be more akin to differences between ethnicities than it would to differences between species.

This post has been edited by Eugene Chin : 24 January 2009 - 03:24 PM

@warlord-mike, on Jan 24 2009, 03:02 PM, said in Alien Morphology:

One could argue, though, that maybe over those 10,000 years, their physiological appearances changed to be more easily distinguishable from the other two races.

Easily distinguishable, yes, but also easily identifiable as related. From what we've heard, I think each population would be fairly homogeneous, and the differences between them would be only slightly greater than we see in humans. Peter has also confirmed that they try to preserve even their national stereotypes by force, so I don't think they would allow any substantial changes. The Strandless would show some more heterogeneity, of course, but would still be recognisable.

It's interesting how everyone seems to picture the Voinians as grey. I hope it isn't just carried over from their ship designs. The Miranu, I think, would be within the range of standard mid-budget 'wise' aliens – human-like, but simplified and smoothed out, with a pastel skin shade.

I think they just look like their ships: pointy and grey...:p

I always imagined the voinians being a bit on the short side.

But, yeah... I think pretty much everyone based their appearance on the colors and shapes of their ships

@mrxak, on Jan 30 2009, 12:48 AM, said in Alien Morphology:

But, yeah... I think pretty much everyone based their appearance on the colors and shapes of their ships

... much the same way Human Ships look like nudes.

Peter Cartwright specifically said he didn't ever define how each species looked, and it would always be up to the individual player's imagination. He did say the Voinians were based (very loosely) off the Vogons in terms of their bureaucracy and behavior, but again he never mentioned looks.

I've always pictured the Miranu as the typical "Roswell" aliens, on account of the Miranu Courier's description saying something to the effect of, "Rumors that earlier versions of this ship, which were fully circular, once visited Earth have yet to be confirmed or denied by the Miranu."

Never really visualized the others, except I see Voinians as heavy-set. All of them I think of as generally humanoid in form, two arms, two legs, no tail, simply because "How else could we fly their ships?"

@qaanol, on Jan 30 2009, 11:18 PM, said in Alien Morphology:

I've always pictured the Miranu as the typical "Roswell" aliens, on account of the Miranu Courier's description saying something to the effect of, "Rumors that earlier versions of this ship, which were fully circular, once visited Earth have yet to be confirmed or denied by the Miranu."

Actually, now that you mention it, I do seem to remember myself visualizing the Miranu as having a bit of a Gray's influence, but a little taller than most humans (anywhere from an inch or two to about a foot), and rather skinny.

Frankly, I always imagined all the species as being completely inhuman altogether, although, while I had somewhat consistent ideas floating in my head, none of my interpretations of them were all that solid. In short, Voinian = Beast, Miranu = More typical alien, Strands = um…I’m not sure actually.

It seems to be almost universally accepted that the Voinians are grey-skinned, for a number of reasons that have been presented above. I didn't know about the 'Reign of the UE' factoid... never liked that plug!

I remember when we had a similar thread to this one, a few years ago, and the outcomes were just about the same back then. The Strands all look more-or-less the same because they are the same base species, although there's nothing to say that they won't have tweaked their genomes a little over the years, in search of better warrior characteristics.

If we're following that logic, bear in mind that in 'Beyond the Crescent' it is revealed that humanity is the 'fourth strand'.

As for the Miranu, I always thought of them as graceful and less physically imposing than humans. In the Splinter Group stories, I described them as 'willowy' and nobody seemed to mind.

A lot of people seem to believe that the Voinians are every bit as large and ponderous as the ships they favour. Me among them... that's always the impression I have had. In terms of their evolutionary niche, I think we're looking at a creature a lot like the Terran walrus. NOT IN SHAPE! Just in terms of the point in the food chain that they may have occupied before they developed into their present form. Big, fat, tough and powerful. Not very coordinated, though!

Or maybe elephant-like? Hmm...

elephantman.jpg (79.96K)
Number of downloads: 30

The aggressive nature and tendency to build big bad death machines of mass destruction (not to mention the social inflexibility, total conformity, and strict adherence to tradition) of the Voinians always made me think their entire civilization had a kind of Napoleon complex. So I always imagined they were rather small.

QUOTE (Geek @ Jan 23 2009, 05:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't know why, but I've always imagined that Voinians looked like Klingons. I imagine them having some of that forehead bone structure though not as much as the Klingons, and they have grey skin. The grey skin idea comes from Reign of the UE, when the Admiral reveals that he's half Voinian after a nearly life-threatening situation weakens him to the point where his Voinian side becomes obvious, including the grey skin.

I imagine the Miranu being basically humanoid, though slenderer than us and longer limbed. I imagine them having a lot more variety in skin color too.

You know... I actually feel the same way on both accounts.

I always assumed everyone looked more-or-less humanoid, that's sort of how the game talked.

I always imagined Voinians with unibrows.

In my mind the zidigar were completely humanoid, but wore cloaks all the time. For dramatic effect, I dunno.

I felt the Emhlaga (sp?) looked like gnomes, but almost as tall as you.

Well i always thought the minaru was a purpley colour almost exactly like humans exept thinner.

Voinians i thought look sort of like the unas from stargate

as for the strand i always thought they were the same as the minaru (i never finished any storylines)

the emalgha i never thought of

when i played EV override when i was a kid i thought the zachit were another race but now i know they arent