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| Idea for a Sci-fi story; Squirrels evolve on colony planet | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 17 2010, 01:29 AM (1,298 Views) | |
| cre8ivmind | Mar 17 2010, 01:29 AM Post #1 |
Zygote
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I have this awesome idea for a sci-fi story. Here goes: The earth is heavily polluted, so several colony ships go out to colonize the galaxy. Each ship has several hundred people, and a plethora of animal and plant species, sorta like Noah's Ark. One of these ships reaches it's destination but is accidentally flung 40 million years into the planet's past. Even though Earth isn't exactly the best planet to live on at the moment, there are still people there monitoring the colony ships. When they noticed that one of the ships had mysteriously disappeared, they sent out a reconnaisance (sp.?) ship to investigate. When they arrived, they found the planet to be lush and teaming with animals and plants -- evolved earth animals and plants. One species was intelligent, and called themselves the Eesk-Nret. They had evolved from one of the animal species on the colony ship: the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris). I'd also like to know if there is already any science fiction novels out there with a similar theme, to make sure I'm not copying anyone else's ideas. |
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| Pando | Mar 17 2010, 02:18 AM Post #2 |
Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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Red squirrel? If you have to have a squirrel, do the gray squirrel. If you want plausibility, do either a primate, raccoon, raven, or parrot. |
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| cre8ivmind | Mar 17 2010, 02:33 AM Post #3 |
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Zygote
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I may consider the gray squirrel as the ancestor of the Eesk-Nret, but for some reason the Eurasian red comes to mind. I can see how those other species you mention may have potential, due to their intelligence, but I had this idea for about 15+ years. So it's kinda etched in stone for me to have a species of squirrel, rather than another animal, evolve into an intelligence. Even though their brains are currently the size of a pecan, I believe there is still potential in their evolution. I've personally seen complex emotions in squirrels, for instance. I have a pet flying squirrel who was obviously grieving after the death of his mate. As for raccoons, I am currently reading a novel called "The Architects of Sleep," which is about evolved raccoons. |
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| Margaret Pye | Mar 17 2010, 04:33 AM Post #4 |
Adult
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What on earth is wrong with squirrels, Pandorasaurus? They're adaptable, they're passably intelligent, they're got pretty good manual dexterity. Heck, give a squirrel opposable thumbs and you've pretty much got a chisel-toothed lemur. Everyone knows what a lemur can do in 40 my, eh? Now, about grey squirrels being more adaptable than reds, you might have a point. But if the reds were the only squirrels on the ship, and so there were no greys to outcompete them... or if, for some random reason, reds adapted to the new planet better than other squirrel species... reds could work. I suspect that after 40 my, it'd be pretty hard to tell the creature's taxonomic affinities beyond "some kind of squirrel." Reds are, in my opinion, prettier. What do the Eesk-Nret look like (squirrel sized, human sized, bipedal, quadrupedal, have they reduced the chisel teeth, are they still arboreal...), and does it involve glossy auburn fur and big ear tufts? I think this is a great idea. I've always thought the SF world needed more sapient rodents. What kind of plot were you thinking of? Hope it has several Eesk-Nret as major characters, and gives a detailed view into their world and how they live. What are their cultures like? |
| My speculative dinosaur project. With lots of fluff, parental care and mammalian-level intelligence, and the odd sophont. | |
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| cre8ivmind | Mar 17 2010, 04:59 AM Post #5 |
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Zygote
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The Eesk-Nret are semi-bipedal; meaning they can walk bipedally, but they're quadripedal in the trees. They are a matriarchal society with females much larger than males. Females are 4 feet tall, and males are only 2 feet. Their heads are elongated, much like a ferret's except more rounded at the back. They are fully furred, with a pronounced mullet-like mane on the back of neck, which obscures the roundness at the back of the skull. They have lemur-like arms and legs, and they can walk plantigrade (on their feet) or digitigrade (tip-toed) interchangeably. They still have a bushy tail, which is as long as their legs, and the tip reaches the ground when they stand up. Fur color is varied, and they have ear tufts, which are proportionally shorter than those of their Sciurus vulgaris ancestors. The story will involve a crystalline amulet which had been discovered by the Eesk-Nret generations ago. This amulet was used as a data storage device by the human colonists 40 million years ago, who used it to preserve their memory in hopes of being discovered in millions of years. The Eesk-Nret have advanced much in technology after discovering it. I think the antagonists in the story will be rogue crew from the recon ship who don't believe the colonists disappeared through time, and want to hurt the Eesk-Nret because they think they had something to do with the colonists' disappearance. Here are some excerpts from my current draft: On a vine running spirally down a quadnut tree, dozens of Eesk-Nret, mostly female, were collecting quadnuts, with the top worker picking each nut, handing down to the next worker, and so on until the nut reached one of several large baskets on the ground. They were careful not to drop the nuts, because they consider them a sacred treasure provided by their goddess. While working, some were chanting while others were communicating in their language, which consisted of gutteral chatter, clicks, squeaks, and chirps. "Kreekhtktktk, I have something to tell you," said Tri!rrrr, one of the workers to an older worker below her, while passing down nut by nut. "What's that?" asked Kreekhtktktk. "I finally managed to buy myself a male," said Tri!rrrr. "Congradulations!" said Kreekhtktktk. "He's really shy though," said Tri!rrrr. "Don't worry," said Kreekhtktktk. "He'll get over his new surroundings. My second male was the same way, but now I have five offspring from him. If you don't mind my asking, how much did he cost?" "Roughly 500 shinestones," answered Tri!rrrr. "That's a lot!" said Kreekhtktktk. "His mother must have been reluctant to let him go." "His mother is the Matriarch," said Tri!rrrr "You have the Matriarch's son?" asked Kreekhtktktk, with a surprised tone. "You are very lucky." "I feel lucky indeed," said Tri!rrrr. "After he gets over his shyness, hopefully the bonding process will go smoothly. And then we can..." Tri!rrrr paused, staring at something in the sky. "What is it?" asked Kreekhtktktk. "Look!" Tri!rrrr exclaimed, pointing toward the object. ***** The crew of the ship cautiously moved through the forest. Various different animal sounds could be heard. But one sound stood out. It was not just simply an animal sound. It was much more complex and organized. A language. As the strange voices grew louder, the crew stood still. "Look!" said Lieutennant Williams, pointing to a well furred, 4-foot tall creature holding a spear taller than itself. "I see another one!" said captain Giles. Suddenly, there were 5, then 10, then more than a dozen. Half of them were 4 feet tall, and half were only 2 feet tall. Strangely, there did not seem to be any gradient between the two sizes. Giles took out his communication device and said, "we've got company." The spear-wielding creatures had curious tones, talking to one another about the intruders. Most were cautious, but curious. Then, some of them began to chant. But their chant was interrupted by one of them, who passed through the middle of the group, and seemed to motion for them to stop. This one was dressed in heavier tribal attire, including a robe and headdress. "I suppose he must be their leader," said Giles. "Correction," said the being, with a rather garbled voice. "She, that is I, am their leader. My name is Nree-naktkt, the Matriarch of this tribe." "Nice to meet you, Nree... something," said Giles. "How are you able to speak English?" asked Williams. "It is rather complicated," said Nree-naktkt. "Come, follow me." |
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| Margaret Pye | Mar 17 2010, 05:26 AM Post #6 |
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Adult
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Hmm, I'm not sure about the names. Interesting gender politics setup. What are the males expected to do, other than stud duty? Fight to protect the females? Do the cleaning? Just look pretty? |
| My speculative dinosaur project. With lots of fluff, parental care and mammalian-level intelligence, and the odd sophont. | |
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| cre8ivmind | Mar 17 2010, 10:37 AM Post #7 |
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Zygote
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Good questions really... The males are an important part of society, and they are considered equal. I'm pretty sure they do more than just stud duty.  They seldom fight to protect females, since the females are large and strong enough to fight for themselves. The males will likely do most of the home cleaning, since the females are working. As for looking pretty, the females are often selective of their mates, based on things like looks, intelligence, personality, and... price. 
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| Ddraig Goch | Mar 17 2010, 01:31 PM Post #8 |
Ar hyd y nos
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Interesting idea. If you want to make squirrels sophonts, you should probably remove all their competitors, such as raccons, primates, or the "more intelligent" birds. |
| Save the Blibbering Humdinger from extinction! | |
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| Canis Lupis | Mar 17 2010, 07:06 PM Post #9 |
Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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I'm not sure about the names either. Creative, I'll admit. But a bit hard to pronounce. And that is one thing readers hate. If they don't have a clue how to pronounce a name or think they are pronouncing it right, they'll most likely put the book down and move on to something else. Might I suggest shortening Tri!rrr to just Trir, Kreekhtktktk to just Kreekit, and Nree-naktkt to just Nree? It's a lot easier for people to pronounce while the names still sound alien. Two questions: 1. How does the time warp work? Does the generation ship travel through a wormhole gone awry? 2. Why are the squirrel-things able to speak English? It seems like a rather poor writing technique to me to have a sapient, separated by millions of years (or by planets even), speak English. That is one of the reasons I didn't like "Planet of the Apes". Though they actually have an excuse (for the original, the Apes evolved on Earth. For the remake, they were trained by humans to be super-intelligent. Apes possess a good memory and are able to pass things down through generations. Thus, it doesn't seem so wierd for the Apes to speak English). I'd suggest that the colonists be unable to communicate with them for a time until a linguist is able to understand the Squirrels. Or perhaps the reconaissance team came with translators. Anyway, I'd also stray away from calling the Squirrels the Eesk-Nret for the same reason I'd stray away from your complex names. Perhaps the Eesk? |
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| Margaret Pye | Mar 17 2010, 07:54 PM Post #10 |
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Adult
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Eesk-Nret is pronounceable. Hang on. If the males are considered equal, why are the females "buying" them? And it sounds like they don't have much choice over who buys them. I'm confused - can you give a full description of Eesk-Nret gender politics? (I'm working on a female-dominated sophont, but not a mammalian one.) I don't think it's necessary to remove all the competitors. Certainly he needs to kill off the humans. But just because an animal is intelligent and adaptable now, doesn't necessarily mean it'll go on and on getting more intelligent and adaptable. It'd make perfect sense to have the Eesk-Nret living alongside some descendant of baboons with baboon-level intelligence, that were just never subjected to the pressure to get smarter. Edited by Margaret Pye, Mar 17 2010, 08:13 PM.
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| My speculative dinosaur project. With lots of fluff, parental care and mammalian-level intelligence, and the odd sophont. | |
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| colddigger | Mar 17 2010, 08:17 PM Post #11 |
Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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after just a few decades I would imagine the human settlers would have the colonial planet at their mercy... then after another century the whole "go-green" thing would quickly dissolve after the first few generations die off and they'd go back to ravaging their new environment... |
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Oh Fine. Oh hi you! Why don't you go check out the finery that is SGP?? v Don't click v Spoiler: click to toggle | |
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| cre8ivmind | Mar 17 2010, 08:56 PM Post #12 |
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Zygote
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I might do that name shortening... seems like a good idea. 1. I haven't made an official method of travel, but I was thinking something like sublight speed. The planet, after all, is only about 11 light-years from Earth, in the 61 Cygni star system. I am either considering a temporal wormhole, or a malfunction in the ship's propulsion system that flings them back in time. 2. In writing the story, they don't actually speak English, they only "speak" English to the reader. They are actually speaking in their own language. I'm not sure how to put that in writing, but I suppose the same rules apply to any characters speaking another language, but we want the readers to read it in English. The Matriarch, however, is actually speaking English. But how she manages it has something to do with the amulet. |
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| cre8ivmind | Mar 17 2010, 09:00 PM Post #13 |
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Zygote
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It's sort of like adopting them from an orphanage. The males also have the right to choose which females can purchase them. Their gender politics are quite complicated, and explaining it would take up another post. |
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| Pando | Mar 18 2010, 12:28 AM Post #14 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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Man, how I would hate to be them. I'm a male. Having a female dominated mammalian species would be a rare sight, seeing that the only ones on Earth that are female dominated are hyaenas (don't say elephants, the males are solitary, the females live in herds). Seeing a picture of them would be nice. I love pictures. How much energy did the wormhole make? Or it could be someone that wanted to sabotage them, and made a box of over 160,000 light beams in a box less than a square centimeter caused even gravity to fail and time itself rewind (not my idea, took it from a video I watched from National Geographic (I think) youtube channel). |
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| Margaret Pye | Mar 18 2010, 06:35 AM Post #15 |
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Adult
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Please do make a long post on their gender politics - it'd really interest me. I agree with Pandorasaurus - it is unusual and interesting for a mammal species to be female-dominated. (I think there are also a few species of hare and miniature antelope where the females are bigger and tougher, but I could be wrong.) Do you have any idea how the system evolved? (You don't have to - nobody's figured out why hyaenas have such odd gender relations and genitalia, after all.) |
| My speculative dinosaur project. With lots of fluff, parental care and mammalian-level intelligence, and the odd sophont. | |
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