Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Nissan on September 12, 2008, 04:56:02 pm
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Hey all,
So one of my friends (a fellow FS player) got Spore a few days ago. I don't play it myself, but I told him to make a Vasudan just for fun. He started on this, and then asked me whether Vasudans were carnivores. I said no, but after thinking for a minute, I realized I didn't actually know.
Is it ever mentioned in the series what kind of diet Vasudans follow? I always sorta assumed they were the same as humans/Terrans, generally omnivores, but would there really be much vegetation at all on Vasuda Prime?
(Sorry if this has come up before.)
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Headz!
Okay, seriously... They don't have really sharp teeth so I wouldn't say they're exclusively carnivores.
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Well, let's make the subject wider...
What are the Vasudans?
Insects, mammals, something totally alien?
Once we figure something out, it'll be easier to discuss what they might eat.
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I'm pretty sure they're either mammals or reptiles, maybe somekind of hybrid.
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I always though they were more fish like. If so even if they don't have teeth they might just swallow their food whole. Of course there's always filter feeding.
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Well there are no fish in the desert, but they do have fish-like mouths. Maybe that's used to help them drink better
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Just tried some research. Never knew Vasuda was another word for Earth. That could add a whole new twist to the plot. Earth and Earth Prime??????
Back on topic could be something like dolphins.
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Whoa, what!?!!?!??!!!!!
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Omnivores. In the desert you eat everything you can find.
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Just tried some research. Never knew Vasuda was another word for Earth. That could add a whole new twist to the plot. Earth and Earth Prime??????
Back on topic could be something like dolphins.
Source or I'm calling shenanigans.
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Just tried some research. Never knew Vasuda was another word for Earth. That could add a whole new twist to the plot. Earth and Earth Prime??????
Back on topic could be something like dolphins.
Source or I'm calling shenanigans.
http://www.answers.com/topic/vasuda
http://www.meaning-of-names.com/indian-names/vasuda.asp
http://www.behindthename.com/name/vasuda
Plus about 50 baby naming sites.
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they are aliens... so they eat alien stuff??
well they have a visible skelleton so if I should put them in some group of animals I would choose either mamals or insects... but they seem far inteligent for insects.
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I agree with Trashman. They would have to be omnivores.
On the other hand, do we have any information/speculation from which animal/thing Vasudans evolved from? (no.)
It was mentioned that there was a type of beetle that the Vasudans based one of their ships on. Maybe they ate that too?
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Apsu-heks?
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Just tried some research. Never knew Vasuda was another word for Earth. That could add a whole new twist to the plot. Earth and Earth Prime??????
Back on topic could be something like dolphins.
Makes sense... no matter what planet you live on, if you originate there, you'd probably call it the world or "Earth"
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True but then why the Prime? It's not like we call it Earth Prime. So is there another Vasuda out there? Did the Ancients take them from Earth to Vasuda? Did the Ancients seed both planets? Is there a Vasuda 2 or 3 or 27?
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I suppose the apt question would be why did they name a solar system "Earth"
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Means "granting wealth" in Sanskrit. This is another name of the earth.
The "Earth" thing is secondary...primary meaning is "Granting Wealth".
They obviously like their home system, so they name it something positive. At least they didn't name it something meaning "Rotten Hellhole".
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Vasuda and vasudans are names assigned by Terran linguists to the language of these aliens. Much like Shivans were assigned an arbitrary name.
Obviously every conscious species calls their home planet "Earth", "Water", "Home", or some variant thereof, and space-traveling species would likely assign the names of planets corresponding with the names of the species that originates there, or vice versa. We're from Terra, so we're called Terrans. This group of aliens got an arbitrary name assignment of "Vasudans", so it makes sense for us to call their planet "Vasuda". What, there's more than one habitable planet in the solar system and they have spread to them? Well let's call the original home planet Vasuda Prime then. [Primus = The First, Prime = derivative that can mean "the most important" or "main", you get the idea]
What do Vasudans eat? Well, first of all it's no use trying to establish taxonomical connections to any Terran species; you can find parallel features and resemblances but to our knowledge, Vasudans don't have common ancestry so even trying to estimate their bilogical structure is guessing at best.
However their appearance does give us a couple hints. First of all, they are big. Very big in fact, and from their apparent strength I would estimate their body density is about equal to humans or higher, which means their body mass would probably be something between a gorilla and a bear. Herbivores of that size need to eat almost constantly. Vasudans don't.
Also, Vasudans have two seemingly very well developed eyes that are pointed forwards, which means they have a good stereo vision, which is important for judging distances accurately. Again a trait that is not usually present in exclusive herbivores, but could be explained with stereo vision being important for other reasons than hunting - like grabbing tree branches and stuff, like many tree-dwelling herbivoric species do.
Another thing, Vasudans walk upright. That's an interesting thing to note because upright posture is a rarity in Earth... in fact, apart from bipedal Saurischian dinosaurs and flying dinosaurids [birds], there are few species that mainly relay on their rear limbs for walking/jumping around. Kangaroos come to mind, chimpanzees can do it but usually don't, bears can stay in upright posture for a while but tend to move on all fours. Some rodents jump mainly on their two rear legs, but otherwise most mammals tend to use their all four legs for movement.
If these similar traits to humans can be considered as parallel evolution, then there is a distinct possibility of vasudans sharing similarities in their evolutionary history with humans - which would make them most probably omnivores.
What comes to their biological structure, perhaps the biggest question is whether they have an endoskeleton or exoskeleton. I would guess endoskeleton, since exoskeleton gets difficult to maintain for big animals during their growth to adults; due to the required structural strength, it's usually more efficient to have living tissue over calcium endoskeleton.
This probably doesn't apply to shivans since we have no idea of their evolutionary history, which is bound to be a very special case seeing how they can withstand vacuum of space and operate effectively in zero-g environment, and they have a laser beam they can shoot from their heads, and energy claws not unlike light sabers... :p
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What I also find very interesting is the Indian rather than Egyptian naming convention... if everything didn't point to a tie to Subspace rather than a planet for the Shivans I'd make something else of it. As it is, it's probably only an inconsitency in the naming system.
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True but then why the Prime? It's not like we call it Earth Prime. So is there another Vasuda out there? Did the Ancients take them from Earth to Vasuda? Did the Ancients seed both planets? Is there a Vasuda 2 or 3 or 27?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_prime
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Shivans probably don't eat at all.
I think Vasudans don't eat headz, but they seem to like looking at it. :drevil:
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Vasudans eat :headz: headz simple as. That and sand and gin.
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Vasudans eat :headz: headz simple as. That and sand and gin.
...and ramen noodles, pinto beans and muffins.
Erm... being a bit more serious - I think they drink water (something is mentioned about most of the above-ground water being undrinkable on Vasuda Prime, even by Vasudan standards, in the FS1 tech room; still it doesn't mean that they can't treat it). Maybe they live underground some of the time and eat whatever lives there, considering that the surface is a harsh place to live.
The two continents of their homeworld are said to be mostly desert, so that leaves some room for other biomes being present on the planet. Maybe even seas.
Given that their homeworld is so harsh, they probably adapted to enable them to eat just about anything.
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That's why I was thinking fish. If the continents are uninhabitable then living in the sea would be logical. Also fish don't mind dirty water as much especially if they are bottom feeders. When I look at the bridge of the Vasudan ship I see things that seem aquatic to me. The way the one option opens like a big shell folding up. All the surfaces being curved like bubbles that could hold water.
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... but they seem far inteligent for insects.
Humans seem far intelligent for monkeys.
Also, "vasudanswuvfishes"
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That's why I was thinking fish. If the continents are uninhabitable then living in the sea would be logical. Also fish don't mind dirty water as much especially if they are bottom feeders. When I look at the bridge of the Vasudan ship I see things that seem aquatic to me. The way the one option opens like a big shell folding up. All the surfaces being curved like bubbles that could hold water.
Just because there are "continents," that doesn't mean there are necessarily "seas." A salt dense body of water that would have more in common with the Dead Sea or the Great Salt Lake could very possibly be the oceans of Vasuda Prime, and the continents are only seperated by a thin stretch of these waters. If so, there probably isn't any life in Vasuda Prime's oceans.
Which would explain why Vasudans find fish so fascinating. A species that LIVES in water? All the time? Amazing (to a race that hardly ever sees water).
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Eishtmo, could you like... Make a fanon encyclopedia or something?
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What do Vasudans eat?
This says it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7lL3ymasbA&feature=related
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they are aliens... so they eat alien stuff??
well they have a visible skelleton so if I should put them in some group of animals I would choose either mamals or insects... but they seem far inteligent for insects.
Insects can't even grow that big due to the limitations of their respiratory system.
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That's why when people say: In the future I'm going genetically modify a tarantula to be as big as this building and order to kill you!
You say: Right . . .
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We eat various live insects, many foods grown from the ground, live animals and snails are considered a delicacy amongst us. We create water by air condensation.
We dont eat human heads contrary to common believe. We find their brains give us nightmares after we eat them. Only mentally unstable vasudans eat human heads. I believe you humans call them 'maniacs'. (Hammer Of Light pilots were known to eat human heads before going to battle)
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(Hammer Of Light pilots were known to eat human heads before going to battle)
:ha: No wonder they keep on flying into each other!
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If any stinking zod got hold of my head. It'd probably give him liver failure.
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Eishtmo, could you like... Make a fanon encyclopedia or something?
I've considered it, the problem is people taking it as canon. It's happened before.
That and I don't have a lot of time on my hands anymore.