Re: Diverse Aliens (Was Re: Star Trek background - Reply)

At 09:59 12/09/97 +1100, Loki wrote:
>;-)  But it is a valid point, most aliens are either monocultured
humanoids
>(Star Trek etc.) or  big mean and nasty hive bugs that just kill things
>(Aliens etc.)	What I'd really like to see is a compassionate and
caring
>hive species, just for the hell of it.  ;-)
Biologically speaking, Hive species tend to be very um, something LIKE
compassionate (I personally think ti would be rather silly to assign
human
emotions to say, a bee) but only to the members of the hive. All hive
species tend to exhibit the behaviour trait of being highly agressive en
masse when threatened.

>	 However back to the Kra'Vak, they really haven't been expanded
on
>beyond the original few pages, well that's as far as I know.  Are they
in
>the SGII or DSII games at all?  I only have Full Thrust at the moment. 
IMHO
There is a litlle bit of 'flavour text' in MT. It suggests that the
Kra'Vak
operate on a clan system which might equate to a hive instead, but it
also
implies they have an honour system much like the movie interpretation of
the Samurai system.

>the *real* problem with having monocultured species is that the
creators
>don't *justify* why they are monocultured.  If say humans went berzerk
and
>started wiping out anyone that did not have blonde hair and blue eys,
and
>was not conforming to a specific culture, we could become very much the
>specific culture.  It's also possible that  the cultures we are viewing
are
>not as simple as what we see: look at the English 'Victorian culture',
it
>was very moral and uniform... on the surface, but underneath?	No way. 
But
>if you were an outsider, which view would you have seen?
You would have seen the view they were protraying to you. One aspect of
a
lot of group organisations (both in people and in higher order mammals)
is
that when faced with an external problem the group becomes much more
uniform and homogenous. I.e. they may not actually BE monocultured, but
they are only prepared to show you part of their culture.  

>	 The impression I have, and please bear in mind that I have not
read
>the source material in a while, is that the Kra'Vak are either a hive
>species, or very close to one?  And at the very least, a culture in
which
>the individual is relatively unimportant.
It is in some clan systems too. The text implies that honour (however
they
define it which isn't clear) is all important to Kra'Vak.

>Just my 2 cents worth, on the bugs of death side.  :)
S'Alright for you. I'm a Sa'Vasku fan. Hard to get emotionally attached
to
blancmanges who make the Vorlon look demonstrative.

			TTFN
				Jon 
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