Galactic Standard Is An Arcadian-based Melting Pot Of Various Laryngeal Languages From Across Known Space.

Galactic Standard is an Arcadian-based melting pot of various laryngeal languages from across known space. It is the de facto common language of the galaxy, since the Aehr (native Arcadian speakers) were the first explorers to chart the galaxy and make contact with the early-modern Milky Way’s various sophont species. The language is less necessary in modern times, what with the increasingly sophisticated neuromatic translators, but thanks to its prevalence over the last several tens of thousands of cycles, it remains the dominant interstellar vocal language.

The Galactic Standard alphabet is a 40-letter phonetic alphabet consisting of symbols for the phonemes of:

h (aspirate)

tʃ (postalveolar affricate)

χ (uvular fricative)

g (voiced velar stop)

q (uvular stop)

k (voiceless velar stop)

ks (velar sibilant)

s (voiceless alveolar sibilant)

ʂ (voiceless retroflex fricative)

z (voiced alveolar sibilant)

ʐ (voiced retroflex fricative)

j (palatal approximant)

ʎ (palatal lateral approximant)

y (close front rounded)

i (close front unrounded)

ɪ (near-close near-front)

ä (open central)

a (open front)

e (close-mid front)

ɛ (open-mid front)

o (mid-back)

ɔ (open-mid back)

ʊ (near-close near-back)

ɯ (close back)

w (labialized velar approximant)

φ (bilabial non-sibilant fricative)

f (voiceless labiodental non-sibilant fricative)

v (voiced labiodental non-sibilant fricative)

m (bilabial nasal)

n (alveolar nasal)

d (voiced alveolar stop)

rr (alveolar trill)

ɻ (retroflex approximant)

l (alveolar lateral approximant)

tɬ (alveolar lateral affricate)

θ (voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative)

ð (voiced dental non-sibilant fricative)

t (voiceless alveolar stop)

p (voiceless bilabial stop)

b (voiced bilabial stop)

A good example of my art / creature design process nowadays: the motes! They’re millimeter-diameter silicon-based lifeforms that form sapient swarms.

First we have the (final) sketch, in my trusty small bound notebook:

Then the polished digital version, complete with shading and textures:

More info on the motes can be found here for now; WorldAnvil article is pending.

OP I am so sorry for continually hijacking your post but,,,

we did it boys. we found him.

the face of a man who knows no fear

ive been working on my worldbuilding stuff! i downloaded wonderdraft and went ham. i hope tumblr doesnt destroy the quality lol (click on it if it does)

more info on the balance (bottom pic) under readmore

Keep reading

THIIIIIISSSSS THIS THIS THIS. The centralized hive fallacy is seen prominently in Ender’s Game, where the queen is the unifying force. I don’t think most writers quite understand how much cooler it is to work with an emergent-sapient swarm or colony, especially if the component organisms are specialized. what it comes down to is that fundamentally, sapience isn’t limited to humanlike psychology or sociology. the intelligence that octopi, dolphins, corvids, etc display are all different, both from each other and from human intelligence, as products of their own specialized evolutionary lineages and niches.

The idea that hive minds in sci-fi have queens or some other central apparatus like a mother ship makes no sense at all. That completely defeats the purpose of a hive mind, which is decentralization. 

It speaks to kind of society we live in where it’s generally assumed that unity is achieved through domination only. 

found on reddit:

The Bong Brothers

the face of a man who knows no fear