SUPER CRUNCH TIME GO! So I just now realized at 3 o'clock in the morning that my time zone is almost a day behind CEST time. So Now I have to have to edit and color all my entries and put them on a single page before 9 am. But while trying to save an image it somehow came out weird. And it ended up much cooler, unfortunately I'm unsure as to how to replicate it.  Oh well. It's the glowy thing around the leafy frill.

The dead line has been moved : Friday 16th, 4pm CEST . 

Dunno if that helps you or not ^^

Hu,? We are still the 15th. 

The US are between 5 and 9 hours behind, so you effectively have about 25 hours left, give or take.

uriak wrote:

Hu,? We are still the 15th. 

Ya I misread the day when running the time zone conversion. My bad...

it seems like Nature already has created the best alien tree ever

Celeir wrote:

it seems like Nature already has created the best alien tree ever

Wow, thats a really cool picture!

I changed a bit the perspective on my dreadnought to give a tad more massive silhouette

Here's the comments :

Unfallens

Most Unfallen only keep vestigial foliage for esthetical reasons. Using their advanced bio grafting, they use artificial elements to enhance their limited vision audio amplifiers to communicate with other species. The older they are, the more sedentary they become until turning into almost still leaders.

Middle aged Unfallen, they compensate their lack of mobility with sharply defensive tactics. These behemoths wield both weapons and shields sized for vehicles. Their bio synth armor notwistanding their specific physiology makes them very resilient. When entrenched and fighting for their kin they are a tough nut to crack.

Ships

The smallest and expendable crafts or missiles are not grown from Unfallen but related species modified for this usage. With their rudimentary intelligence, they provide and efficient and affordable squadrons, protecting the genuine Unfallen elders.

Elders destined to become ships are grafted unto synthetic skeletons then covered in space grade plating while they achieve the desired size in orbit. Bio Steel armor is then added to protect the main weapon systems while the tree itself house the power generation and other vital functions. Their regeneration feats are quite exaggerated, but they can quickly seal non lethal breachs. 

There is a limit to what is ethically achievable with only one elder. The largest Unfallen ships are made from several elders who share this burden. Each part of those massive ships communicate and work together while managing their own equipement. Unfallen are pacifists but not naïve : speak softly, and carry a big stick indeed

Some additionnal things :

* I imagine their offspring to be a bit disposable, they have many of them and they don't reach Unfallen level of intelligence until they settle as a tree. The unfallen have a lot of mobile plant species they have adapted to their need, from simple companions to massive minearl extractors, attack crafts etc

* they can surviva on light and water (and soil) but only when inactive. The active members of society drinks solutions made from other plants and keep only leaves as a decorum

* they don't have face but several cluster of non moving eyes. Since the age of bio engineering they often graft enhaced visors.

* they can emit sounds but inaudible to us. By using amplifications systems they can ease communication with other sapients

* their military units are not many, and often their equipement is quite ornemented as they bear official functions.

* the ships are made from voluntary elders. Those who stay on planets grows to decent proportions but not as much as those in microgravity

* The embedded personnel on those ships stunt their own growth to embark, this allow a wide range of ages within the fleet. Older administrator and leader are often left into their large settlements.

* Their plant physiology is quite malleable and allow easy grafting to bio enhancements. They can take more punishment than regular animals

* There are male and female Unfallen but they don't have any concept of romance or pairing.

So I just sent off my baby to enter the contest *sniff* I'm so proud!  Anyways here's the entry sheet and the description. For the record, I was basically out of time for super duper touch ups for the soldier drawing so I had to cut a lot of corners on it. It still came out decent in my eyes but there is a visible difference... Oh well! I'm just glad I actually got something entered! Anyways here's a look at what my entry was.

UNFALLEN POPULATION


Civilian: The civilian Unfallen are supported by many small, yet dexterous, woody vine-like tendrils that distribute their weight..


Soldier: The soldier's arm cannon and eye contain organic lenses used to fire energy attacks and, in the case of the cannon arm, hydro-compression ballistics to fire kinetic projectiles.



UNFALLEN SHIPS


Unfallen ships are incredibly old Unfallen grown form their sapling stage into mighty wyrm-like starships meant to delve into the unknown and defend their species and its allies.

SPRIG (100m): The Sprig is lightly armed but has a fair amount of armor for defense, making it tough to take down.


ARBOR (300m): Heavily armed and even more heavily armored, the Arbor is the backbone of the Unfallen's stellar defense fleet.



GIGAN (1000m): The largest of the Unfallen ships, while the Gigan may not look like it, it is the most heavily armored out of all other Unfallen vessels. Its vines are no longer woody but instead metallic. This is due to the Gigan's body being comprised of organic carbon nano tubes and many different kinds of metals on a molecular level. While not invincible, with its resultant maneuverability, damage resistance, and fire power, the Gigan is a deadly threat to those who wish to threaten the peace of the Unfallen.

Dunno about you guys and gals but this is gonna be crunch time for me.

Have a sneak peek at how one of my ships is coming together:

A good deal of my designs have already been, and will be further subjected to, change. I did this mostly because I feel like the designs were too ugly (I redid the hull on the Unfallen military walker and the medium ship looks almost completely unrecognizable, among other things including the ship shown above). I'm also trying my best to go with a color palette that is unique, creative, unlike the existing colors already in endless space (white n' blue sophons, golden sheredyn, sorta greenish bronzish horatio), and still pretty dang sexy.

I'm trying to shoot for uniqueness without seeming like I took too much inspiration from an existing faction or other contestant designs. I assumed everyone would go green and brown, you know, like most real trees and so I tried to put a lot of thought into why and how my designs could exist if they were real or not. I'd rather give shock and awe when my submission goes up rather than spoil it so... I'm keeping my mouth shut for now lol

Anyway, my first post detailing the major points included very detailed explanations for why I chose each single point, but I edited most of it out because I felt it would be too long. I've decided to share them now because, hell, it would make everything seem much more sensical... so here we go:

The people of the Unfallen:

I always figured the proportions, body figure, feel, and that sort of thing would be almost entirely open to customization by the Unfallen, since they can mold themselves into shapes such as warships. I also thought it would be neat to have their eyesight to naturally not be that good, and so they usually end up taking crystalline rocks, like quartz, that they found on their travels (or manufactured like a strong pair of glasses, I suppose) and molding them into place over their visual receptors to enhance their sight by allowing refracting light better.

To make them more alien, I've decided to make their leaves a sort of shade of cobalt blue. I did this as I felt that their homeworld would be orbiting a star with a primary wavelength other than green (which is what our sun mostly emits, hence why plant life on Earth is almost entirely green). Plus, I thought it would look beautiful and the sight of a "blue leaf" would help symbolize their peaceful, diplomatic nature.

I figured if they evolved from trees, they would still rely on all the stuff that real trees do, sun, water, and nutrients in the soil. These guys don't have mouths anywhere, and with their "head" covered in leaves, that still leaves the problem of how they get water and nutrients. So why not give them clusters of roots for feet and make it where they need to trudge through the Earth like they were constantly moving through a pool of water to get the nutrition they need? Not only does this allow them to survive, but it also helps improve soil quality as the sheer act of them walking tills the soil, mixing it and opening it to more nutrients. This would also explain why they wouldn't fare well on arid, dry, clumpy planets. 

The military of the Unfallen:

The military of the unfallen typically favors a body style that allows for good agility, like a quadraped or triped figure. This doesn't mean they can move quickly still, but it's good for concussive blasts that would throw an ordinary soldier all over the place, as well as balance. Most of what was said for the civilians still applies to the military.

To protect their relatively fragile leaves and primary part of their body, the military of The Unfallen mold themselves into an armored shell with the back top rippled to let light, but not shrapnel, into leaves protected under the armor. 

The craft of the Unfallen:

The ship designs follow the same basic principles of the armor worn by the marines; with an emphasis on beauty without sacrificing practicality. The turrets even follow these mannerisms, taking on the shape of smooth, single-barreled spheres with the majority of the barrel and ammunition stored inside the orb itself. Instead of being bolted onto the ship in rows like the craft of other space-faring species, these orb cannons are dotted around the ship in seemingly random location, mounted high on the tops of trunks away from the main body of the ship (to avoid collateral damage if shot at or the ship itself was damaged), fire independently, and can orient itself in almost any direction in every dimension; sort of like an eyeball. I really didn't use this choice of design because it was easy to draw, I actually thought it would be practical, unique, and stylish for a ship to use such a kind of weapon. It's almost brilliant.

Each ship hosts numerous onboard ecosystems scattered around the ship under the thick layers of armor and bark to grant the ship access to nutrient and water flow. The Matriarch-class ships can host hundreds of these interconnected ecosystems! I thought this would help explain how the organic ship itself would survive in space. To help the ship survive, it is also covered in light-sensory crystals and leaves that can withstand the harsh environment of space. The stresses of temperature extremes on the leaves are countered by heat circulation throughout the ship and simply switching sides away from the star every now and then. 

As you can tell, I spent a lot of time thinking about what the species would be like if it were real, while giving it a spin by focusing on a brilliant/sharp, stylish design without sacrificing the "peaceful" or nice "NATURE" of the The Unfallen (see what I did there? :P). Some points discussed in my first post weren't really covered by the paragraphs, but I figured they were pretty self-explanatory so I left it that way.

Now I gotta get to work finishing up my designs; I'm probs gonna stay up all night making everything look how I want it. For those of you doing the same, at least you know you're not alone in your scramble to meet the deadline lol.

But for those who aren't, good night :) 

(or morning, wherever you are on the world) 

BlackBird1696 wrote:

So I just sent off my baby to enter the contest *sniff* I'm so proud!  Anyways here's the entry sheet and the description. For the record, I was basically out of time for super duper touch ups for the soldier drawing so I had to cut a lot of corners on it. It still came out decent in my eyes but there is a visible difference... Oh well! I'm just glad I actually got something entered! Anyways here's a look at what my entry was.

UNFALLEN POPULATION


Civilian: The civilian Unfallen are supported by many small, yet dexterous, woody vine-like tendrils that distribute their weight..


Soldier: The soldier's arm cannon and eye contain organic lenses used to fire energy attacks and, in the case of the cannon arm, hydro-compression ballistics to fire kinetic projectiles.



UNFALLEN SHIPS


Unfallen ships are incredibly old Unfallen grown form their sapling stage into mighty wyrm-like starships meant to delve into the unknown and defend their species and its allies.

SPRIG (100m): The Sprig is lightly armed but has a fair amount of armor for defense, making it tough to take down.


ARBOR (300m): Heavily armed and even more heavily armored, the Arbor is the backbone of the Unfallen's stellar defense fleet.



GIGAN (1000m): The largest of the Unfallen ships, while the Gigan may not look like it, it is the most heavily armored out of all other Unfallen vessels. Its vines are no longer woody but instead metallic. This is due to the Gigan's body being comprised of organic carbon nano tubes and many different kinds of metals on a molecular level. While not invincible, with its resultant maneuverability, damage resistance, and fire power, the Gigan is a deadly threat to those who wish to threaten the peace of the Unfallen.

I actually like your design quite a bit, though I would have liked to see more detail on the 'manes'(?) to see exactly what they are composed of. Also, what it reminds me of actually fits well with the idea of the Unfallen:

Wheyloffle wrote:

Dunno about you guys and gals but this is gonna be crunch time for me.

Now I gotta get to work finishing up my designs; I'm probs gonna stay up all night making everything look how I want it. For those of you doing the same, at least you know you're not alone in your scramble to meet the deadline lol.

But for those who aren't, good night :) 

(or morning, wherever you are on the world) 

Bit under 5 hours to go, try not to send it at the last minute!

Now I gotta get to work finishing up my designs; I'm probs gonna stay up all night making everything look how I want it. For those of you doing the same, at least you know you're not alone in your scramble to meet the deadline lol.

But for those who aren't, good night :) 

(or morning, wherever you are on the world) 

You can do it!

BlackBird1696 wrote:

So I just sent off my baby to enter the contest *sniff* I'm so proud!  Anyways here's the entry sheet and the description. For the record, I was basically out of time for super duper touch ups for the soldier drawing so I had to cut a lot of corners on it. It still came out decent in my eyes but there is a visible difference... Oh well! I'm just glad I actually got something entered! Anyways here's a look at what my entry was.

UNFALLEN POPULATION


Civilian: The civilian Unfallen are supported by many small, yet dexterous, woody vine-like tendrils that distribute their weight..


Soldier: The soldier's arm cannon and eye contain organic lenses used to fire energy attacks and, in the case of the cannon arm, hydro-compression ballistics to fire kinetic projectiles.



UNFALLEN SHIPS


Unfallen ships are incredibly old Unfallen grown form their sapling stage into mighty wyrm-like starships meant to delve into the unknown and defend their species and its allies.

SPRIG (100m): The Sprig is lightly armed but has a fair amount of armor for defense, making it tough to take down.


ARBOR (300m): Heavily armed and even more heavily armored, the Arbor is the backbone of the Unfallen's stellar defense fleet.



GIGAN (1000m): The largest of the Unfallen ships, while the Gigan may not look like it, it is the most heavily armored out of all other Unfallen vessels. Its vines are no longer woody but instead metallic. This is due to the Gigan's body being comprised of organic carbon nano tubes and many different kinds of metals on a molecular level. While not invincible, with its resultant maneuverability, damage resistance, and fire power, the Gigan is a deadly threat to those who wish to threaten the peace of the Unfallen.

Does soldier have snake like tail or it's just my imagination? It's kind hard to tell for me from this perspective. 

Vistula wrote:

BlackBird1696 wrote:

So I just sent off my baby to enter the contest *sniff* I'm so proud!  Anyways here's the entry sheet and the description. For the record, I was basically out of time for super duper touch ups for the soldier drawing so I had to cut a lot of corners on it. It still came out decent in my eyes but there is a visible difference... Oh well! I'm just glad I actually got something entered! Anyways here's a look at what my entry was.

UNFALLEN POPULATION


Civilian: The civilian Unfallen are supported by many small, yet dexterous, woody vine-like tendrils that distribute their weight..


Soldier: The soldier's arm cannon and eye contain organic lenses used to fire energy attacks and, in the case of the cannon arm, hydro-compression ballistics to fire kinetic projectiles.



UNFALLEN SHIPS


Unfallen ships are incredibly old Unfallen grown form their sapling stage into mighty wyrm-like starships meant to delve into the unknown and defend their species and its allies.

SPRIG (100m): The Sprig is lightly armed but has a fair amount of armor for defense, making it tough to take down.


ARBOR (300m): Heavily armed and even more heavily armored, the Arbor is the backbone of the Unfallen's stellar defense fleet.



GIGAN (1000m): The largest of the Unfallen ships, while the Gigan may not look like it, it is the most heavily armored out of all other Unfallen vessels. Its vines are no longer woody but instead metallic. This is due to the Gigan's body being comprised of organic carbon nano tubes and many different kinds of metals on a molecular level. While not invincible, with its resultant maneuverability, damage resistance, and fire power, the Gigan is a deadly threat to those who wish to threaten the peace of the Unfallen.

Does soldier have snake like tail or it's just my imagination? It's kind hard to tell for me from this perspective. 

You are correct. Like I said in the picture, I was almost out of time and had already messed him up. So I had to make a few concessions on design and edits.

Celeir wrote:

it seems like Nature already has created the best alien tree ever

I guess this Unfallen is about to sacrifice itself to pacify our species? Right, right?

I guess we can skip the voting entirly.

All of you did a great job. Really enjoyed reading and seeing your ideas. Looking forward to the voting.