Sagely Advice · Legacy archive
Centipede People
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Centipede People
#1A thought came to my head-not lizard people, but centipede people. What are your 5thoughts on the general morals ect of such a race? Obviously on the individual level they would be as different as individual humans are different, but what virtues/vices would they be likely to have as a group? -
Re: Centipede People
#2When you say people, I assume you mean humanoids? How much of them would be centipede? Do you intend to segment one human body, or do what they did in the movie with the same name? When thinking about the concept, some guy in a costume comes to mind;
http://www.myspace.com/monicapg23/photos/430579#%7B%22ImageId%22%3A430579%7D
Or something much worse;
http://mobile-wallpapers.feedio.net/human-centipede-wtf-bodybuilding-com-forums/irintech.com*x1*images*jean*centipede_doll.jpg/ -
Re: Centipede People
#3Just a random brainstorm from me on this topic:
1. This isn't from me personally but in Chinese myths, any poisonous animals is usually associated with being evil/low morals etc.
2. Personally, I would use actual biological info on centipedes to construct their ways of life. I just looked at a Wiki article on centipedes (I was trying to confirm what a centipede is, for a sec I had it mixed up with caterpillars) and apparently they are predators who eat a mixed diet and their main food source are earthworms. Anyway, one idea I got out of this is that these centipede people are aggressive (I'm picturing a tribal society like the Mongolians) towards those weaker than they are and at the same time being 'squeezed' by other more powerful races for which they might feel resignation (as in they know they can't fight back and accept this)/reverence (in a grovelling way). In turn of a virtue, I would make them extremely versatile (reflecting their mixed diet). -
Re: Centipede People
#4I'm thinking of them as often aggressive towards other races, with relatively few laws amongst themselves, but none the less their society survives and thrives. Most of their violence is turned outwards to empire-build. -
Re: Centipede People
#5Would work as well, anything else you would like to brainstorm on? -
Re: Centipede People
#6I'm thinking one of the few things they will never do to each other is eat the eggs of each other-that's a major taboo amongst them. -
Re: Centipede People
#7Yeah, eating babies is bad.
My advice: don't just look to the biology of centipedes for inspiration. If everyone looked to biology to find out what kind of personality the sheep people have (or the shark people, the crow people, or the cat people) then everyone's sheep people would be the same. Everyone's sheep people would be meek and conformist. Everyone's crow people would be clever and like shiny things.
So if you just base it off the biology, you're gonna have the same centipede people as everyone else. And I'm more interested in what kind of centipede-people would Cheka Man write that have his unique contributions. What sort of centipede people can you invent that no one else would think up?
So I feel that biology should be a last resort, rather than a first one.
Centipedes are carnivorous predators, though, and damn good ones. I wouldn't leave that part out.