-==HISTORY==-Somewhere deep in the galaxy lies a planet which surface is covered with Tar. A primordial dark sludge, thick as... well, it's pretty thick... Not many years ago, the planet was used as a waste dump. Often used for how easily the planet absorbed junk and concealed it beneath the dark substance. Excess space waste was tossed there by large mining Corporations. But not just waste; the planet was a grave site, by intentional funerals or by organized crime. Bodies were often dumped there to hide them, or to be laid to rest. Deep inside the Tar was an advanced bacteria, that grew while it consumed the waste and organic materials fed to it by outside space. Due to the constant consumption and mixture of sludge, it was not long before rapid Tar based organisms began to thrive. Animals, living junk, plants and insects of many types rose from the icky stuff. Among the smartest of these organisms was the Tar people, Dead bodies reanimated by the toxic properties of the tar. With the combination of the deceased humanoid brains, the Tarreans could think and learn quite quickly. With the existing half broken technology present on their planet, the Tarreans advanced far ahead into the ages, entirely skipping the stone and middle ages of typical civilizations. The Tarreans had a religion based around their technology, the newer the technology, the more the techno gods favored them. The rapid growth of their knowledge however came to a halt around the industrial age (similiar to a World War 1 type era), When war broke out with their more exotically colored brethren who were derived from a large tar pool mixed with industrial grade of purple dye. (Be careful where you dump your waste!) Their planet now exists in a constant stage of turmoil, with opposing sides bombing each-other consistently. Only do a small handful of Tarreans look to the stars for their salvation. Waiting for other races to touch down and help them escape their planets chaos. Those who do escape eternally serve their savior or wander from planet to planet as nomads. Tarreans are sludge like people who are mostly made of the Tar where they came from. The brains are borrowed from deceased races or other organisms that happen to be consumed by the tar. The brain is entirely renewed and hold no former memories of its past life. The Tar people look towards other races from space and worship them as gods. Most Tarreans choose to form their bodies to try and mimic their idols. Be it humanoid or not.Tarreans will hold junk or cloth buried in their tar bodies to use as clothing or jewelry, or body armor.Tarreans make very good soldiers. Able to take more hits than other races, Tarreans can consume quite a few laser blasts and lead bullets before the heat weakens the tar and causes them to melt down. Once they melt, their brains are exposed and the tar cannot recover.Tarreans are so far not known to reproduce. Some Tarreans will form themselves to appear as male or female out of preference or their idols whom they often serve. Other than this fact, there is no gender based reproduction purposes behind their emulated appendages. Size Orignal Concept Art Animated sprites to be added soon!
Neat. I think they could use some greatly significant bodily traits though for customization, though. All I see would be their tar color, eye color, and head shape. I think they need a feature that could display a secondary color. I find it a bit bizarre they'd absorb literal brains and recycle them. I could see them absorbing intellect and memories to sort of mimic society though, but not literally refurbishing an entire organ. What if they have a nucleus/core like an amoeba or single celled organism that can absorb knowledge traits?
You could say I kind of limited them like that on purpose. I needed to do that to set their technological age. I'm sure I could have found other ways but I'm pretty sure if they could do that they'd be amongst the starts independently. Thats a great idea though, I'll toss that idea around for a bit.
I just find it an implausible stretch for them to have developed the traits of sapience THAT way. If they weren't designed to use a brain, what good would it do to absorb a rotting corpse's grey matter anyway? If anything, they could've slowly mimic'd biological traits from the consumption of various creatures and adapting bits of dna until they've assumed the working bipedal forms they have now. It could be an entire race of sludgy doppelgangers who don't feel at home anywhere due to their lego genetics.
I feel more or less what you are saying is what I really have in mind. You just say it better. I just felt like having a dead brain for the tar to form around would be like having a devs platform for organisms to work on. A better way to explain my train of thought perhaps is that the body is initially dead on arrival as described. The bacteria that makes the tar living consumes the body but preserves the brain, therefor infesting itself in it and reanimating it into something useful, so the mind is rebooted and the tar humanoid has the mind of a child.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annota...&feature=iv&src_vid=caJiufJ4pT0&v=ACHVwA1D8fE all i could think of
