A new ride for Knights...

[Under the moon]

Well folks, it has come to the point in my story where I need to have some armored lance solders riding something. Since I can\'t find anything that fits -if there is anything- and horses are right out, I again have to make something up.

So I thought, \"Hmmm...something different. No horses, no dragons, not cows. (CHARGE, boys! MOOOO!) Lizards have been over done, and so have cats.\" I was stymied for a bit.

Then I came up with this handsome beastie. Distantly related to your friendly neighborhood clacker, this is the larval form of a giant, aquatic, centipede-like creature. Despite its fearsome looks, it is actually quite gentle. Instead of teeth, it has baleen-like matterial, which it uses to strain nutrients and small fish from the rich water and mud of bogs and ponds.

Its speed is incredible, given the strength of its large legs and the fact that its carapace is honeycombed on the inside, rather than solid, making them lighter than they appear. Smaller, younger larva can only carry one light passenger, while larger can carry as many as three.

At the age of two or three, the larva mature and must be returned to the waters of their origin before they metamorphosis. For the adult is much bigger, not so docile, and prefers fresh meat. No one has ever been able to tame an adult.

Eggs must be stolen from adults natural bog nests, which they protect fiercely. (quest anyone?) One problem, it is illegal to kill a nesting adult.

I have plans to add some sort of folding ?frills? to the creature?s sides, allowing them to glide for short distances and have good swimming abilities. Also in the works are a saddle,raines of a sort, and some extra armor.

Tell me what you think. Suggestions are welcome. I also haven\'t come up with a name yet.

*edit* I would like to know if this has the general approval of everyone before it goes into my story. Thank you for your time.

[provisionist1]

Overall I like it. It\'s original and has a good backround to it. I just have a few suggestions:

First, with the legs. You said centipede-like creature, should it not have many small appendages along each body section? Perhaps connected by with soft tissue and to help swim, it waves it\'s tiny legs up and down pushing the water back. Just brainstorming. Also with the legs...I forget if clackers have 4 or 6 legs (haven\'t played in a while...no mac client at the moment), if 6, then there should be two more appendages midway? Finally, I think the legs should come out at the side of the body, not underneath, but your creature, your call.

Second, if they need to be in water to eat, then perhaps include that every day they must be returned to a private pond to feed, or come up with some other way to feed them when in captivity.

Third, and purely aesthetic, I think something needs to come out from the top of the head.

Overall though, very good concept, it\'d be sweet if they implemented them in the game. Megaras and pterosaurs I know... but they are (will be) very expensive and flying. No land based quick transport yet that I know of.

Cool, keep up the good work,

Xirius

[Under the moon]

1. The adult is centipede-like, this is basicaly a grub, a maggot. Therefore it\'s only somewhat centipede-like. I\'m sure clacker larva don\'t look anything like the adults either.

About the legs. I thought about having them come out the sides, like other bugs, but it didn\'t seem right for support and speed. And ya, I was going to add more webbed appendages on the sections in front of the monkey just for swimming and short glides.

2. Good points, but I already thought of that. The larva is adapted to live on land to avoid the dangers of the water. Feeding them is quite easy, for they will eat a slury of just about anything. Like roaches. Think \'slopping a pig\'. But the pond is a good idea too.

3. This is just a basic model to get some ideas for my story. Nothing is written in stone yet. That\'s why I posted it here. I\'ll look at the head and see if I can come up with a better design. But I want it to be somewhat simple, as it is just a larva.

Thank you for your time and suggestions.

[Under the moon]

No more comments/suggestions?

Into my story it goes then, I guess.

[Seytra]

I find it interesting and worth considering officially. And it looks much more menacing than a horse ever can short of being undead.

However, I don\'t think that the head needs to be changed in terms of having more things come out of it.
However, it looks a bit mechanical due to the grill-like mouth and triangular eyes. If these parts of the head were there solely, I\'d think of a robot, not an animal. Maybe if you just round out the eyes a bit, the machanic feeling would go away?

[Under the moon]

I\'ll see what I can come up with. May take a while though. I\'m kinda in a head to head battle with some devious ad/spy programs that \'downloaded themselves\' while my sister was borrowing my PC. I should know better by now. :rolleyes:

I\'ll have a look-see at some real bug pics and such to find a good eye shape. Those were just stuck on there in a hurry anyways.

[Seytra]

Originally posted by Under the moon
I\'ll see what I can come up with. May take a while though. I\'m kinda in a head to head battle with some devious ad/spy programs that \'downloaded themselves\' while my sister was borrowing my PC. I should know better by now. :rolleyes:

It\'s always nice to see how careful other people are when using borrowed equipment.

This would probably trigger a complete repartitioning / reformatting / reinstalling session with me, as I wouldn\'t feel safe on the system anymore, even after it\'s been cleaned up.

Install Linux and hide the Windoze boot option next time, and no irresponsible person will be able to get anywhere!

[Under the moon]

This is what I was going for the basic segmented \'look\'.

You\'re right, though, the eyes suck. I think I may have do do a wasp eye transplant. Prep the patient! :evil:




ps. The long vicious battle has ended. Score: 67 me; adware 0. Go home team!

[sashok]

I would probably never ride it.  Of course unless it\'s really good mount.  The idea of resemblence between your mount and centerede gives me the goose bumps.

It\'s a good model though, I would definately like it in game.

Maybe try adding little arms like that centrepede picture below.  See if that looks better.

[DepthBlade]

I honestly don\'t know wtf to make of that, it looks interesting but it needs more detail for me.

[Efflixi Aduro]

I wanna be a knight just to ride it

[Under the moon]

*edit* Oh, didn\'t see you there Efflixi. I\'ll see if I can have the leatherworker rig you up a saddle tomorrow. We don\'t want another monkey incident. Did I mention they go very fast?

OK, changed th eyes and the mouth a bit. Added the extra \'legs\' and changed them red, and added webbing. Gave the monkey some armor and a lance...then acidently closed the program without saving. >.<

I\'m to tired right now to do all that again, so I\'ll just give you what I have now. The \'legs\' still need to be colored, posed, and webbed. The monkey fell off due to a lack of saddle. :rolleyes: The lighting sucks too.

Don\'t expect a UV skin. And this model is way to messy to end up in the game. I\'ll see about adding some more details...sometime.

[sashok]

those extra arms make it look more complete, but they look akward, too straight.  Make em arch or something.

[ArcaneFalcon]

If you really want to make it look sweet you can rig it.  A good pose will not only take care the straight arm problem mentioned in the previous post, but it will greatly increase the quality of the picture.  Take the position it\'s in now, turn the head/neck toward the camera, and then tweak with the arms/legs.  Great work.

:emerald:

[Under the moon]

Here we are now. Posed the \'legs\', added webbing, and a saddle. I\'ll finish posing the rest after I figure out how to control the thing. Sadly, I didn\'t optimize the large legs for rigging, so I don\'t know If I can show you one in action.

Thank you for you comments. More suggestions are welcome. (I know, the lighting still sucks.)

*helps Efflixi up into the saddle. Grins evily, and cracks a whip in the air. The creature takes off at top speed*

See if you can find the monkey!